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It was unclear how many of Iberia's 1,900 pilots would take part in the strike, but the airline feared that 1,500 flights and around 200,000 passengers could be affected over the seven days of the planned strike.
Many passengers have been assigned alternate flights, had their money refunded or were allowed to rebook with other carriers, said Iberia spokesman Jaime Perez Guerra.
He said 220 flights were canceled Monday and an average of 240 a day would be scrapped for the rest of the week. The stoppage will cost Spain's flagship carrier 35 million euros ($44.7 million) in lost revenue, the spokesman said.
Transport Ministry rules requiring minimum service levels during strikes, including one flight a day on each route, mean the routes most affected would be those within Spain and to other destinations in Europe.
Routes such as Chicago, Peru, Venezuela and Costa Rica would be unaffected because there is only one flight per day, but the Madrid to Barcelona route, which has 44 flights a day, could be hard hit.
Perez Guerra said Iberia was seeking to have the strike declared illegal through Spain's courts, as it was not an internal airline matter but related to pilots complaining about competition from an outside company.
Keen to reduce labor costs and eliminate unprofitable flights, Iberia has been phasing out services from Barcelona's airport to make way for the October launch of CATair.
Iberia hopes to route most flights through its new state-of-the-art hub in Madrid, where profitable long-haul flights originate. Some 350 Iberia pilots currently fly from Barcelona.
Iberia and four partners announced the new carrier in April. It will have a 20% voting stake and 80% equity through a 24 million euros ($30 million) investment.
Iberia will not assume management of CATair, thus freeing itself from high labor costs associated with its own operations. An Iberia pilot earns 200,000 euros ($255,600) a year while its co-pilots take home 150,000 euros ($191,700), Perez Guerra said.
CATair expects to have a 30-aircraft fleet by 2008.
Once again the media has joinmed arms with airline management against the pilot group. It is absolutelly BS the numbers released about pilot pay at IB. Only those real senior guys make such salary and they do so after 20 or more years at the helm. The real problem at IB and its high operational costs are the result of the more than 24000 employees which is outrageous for an airline that size. They would have to reduced their labor force at least by half to make it profitable and in accord with their fleet size.
Get the record straight.
Posted by: jj | July 11, 2006 5:50 AM | Permalink to Comment