Passengers flying between Ireland and Spain yesterday were unaffected by an Iberia Airlines pilot strike, according to Aer Rianta and the Irish Travel Agents' Association (ITAA).
The one-day strike at the Spanish airline resulted in the cancellation of 24 per cent of the company's flights, but mainly affected internal flights in Spain and flights between other European countries.
More than 20,000 people from this State holiday in Spain and on Spanish islands every week during the summer, but no figures were available on the number of Irish people affected by the internal flights strike.
The ITAA estimated the figure would be low, as most people travelled on charter packages and many did not use internal flights. "But any kind of travel strike is bad news for holidaymakers," said Mr Brendan Moran, its chief executive.
The pilots' union and Iberia managers are meeting today in an attempt to settle the dispute. The pilots are striking for the reinstatement of their full pay, which was reduced before Iberia Airlines was privatised.
Meanwhile, flights to and from the Balearic Islands were back to normal yesterday, following the suspension of the strike by coach-drivers in Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza on Sunday night. Aer Rianta reported no delays with flights between the islands and Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports. The 72-hour strike affected about 5,000 Irish holidaymakers.
The coach-drivers had threatened another strike in mid-July, but yesterday tour operators on the islands said they were "very confident" that a deal would be agreed to remove the threat.
