Iberia strikes hit 70,000 passengers
Spanish airline Iberia has said 70,000 passengers have been affected by strikes at the airline this week.
The five-day strike which begins today and coincides with the UK half term holidays, will affect more than 1,000 flights.
Staff, including baggage handlers, pilots and air stewards, will hold three five-day strikes in February and March to protest management plans to lay off 4,500 jobs and cut salaries at the airline, see previous story.
Iberia said it had cancelled 415 flights between Monday and Friday, although a total of around 1,200 flights operated by various airlines will be grounded because of the lack of handling services at Spanish airports.
The airline said 70,000 passengers would be affected by the first strike but that it had managed to find alternative flights for most of them. It said the remaining passengers would get refunds.
Two further strikes are planned for March 4 to 8 and March 18 to 22.
Iberia said it will keep customers up to date with new developments on the www.iberia.com site, on Facebook and Twitter, through Serviberia and other call centres around the world, and at Iberia desks at the more than 100 airports where it operates.
The company also invites visitors to its website to sign up for "Iberia Conecta", to receive real-time information about developments affecting their flights via SMS or email messages.
Diane
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