As the late May bank holiday and half term approach, holidaymakers are once again facing disruption because of industrial action.
In addition to the upcoming rail strikes – Aslef and RMT workers are set to walk out on Wednesday 31 May (Aslef train drivers), Friday 2 June (RMT) and Saturday 3 June (Aslef) – air passengers can also expect industrial action.
Some 1,400 security staff working at Heathrow Airport‘s Terminal 5 – exclusively used by British Airways – and campus security (which checks all airside workers and vehicles) will walk out from Thursday 25 May until Saturday 27 May. They are striking over pay disparity: Unite the Union says that security officers at Heathrow are being paid £6,000 per year less than their counterparts at other London airports. Heathrow officers receive basic pay of £26,000, which is boosted by a £4,000 shift allowance. The airport has proposed a 10 per cent pay increase.
A previous 10-day period of industrial action during the Easter holidays resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, however Heathrow Airport bosses have said that no flights will be cancelled as a result of the strike this week and that “passengers will have a smooth half-term getaway.”
Unite says the same number of officers will be striking as during the Easter strike period, while a spokesperson for Heathrow told i that around 1,000 additional colleagues are being deployed to “support passenger journeys”, including the entire management team.
During the Easter and coronation weekend periods of industrial action by security officers at the airport, Heathrow claims that most passengers waited less than five minutes to clear security and “almost all” waited less than 10 minutes.
Passengers travelling through the airport during strike days are encouraged to arrive no more than two hours before departure for short-haul flights, and no more than three hours for long-haul, and to prepare for security with compliant liquids and electronics out of hand luggage in advance. Arriving too early for a scheduled departure can put airport infrastructure under pressure and exacerbate delays.
Travellers heading to Spain over the coming weeks could also find themselves affected by continuing industrial action by pilots of Air Europa.
The Spanish airline – which operates flights between Gatwick and Madrid, and onwards to destinations in the Americas, as well as North Africa and Israel – has experienced ongoing disruption as a result of a pay dispute with Spain’s pilots’ union, Sepla. Pilots are walking out on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 May, Thursday 25 and Friday 26 May, as well as 29-30 May and 1-2 June.
However, the Gatwick-Madrid and long-haul routes are unaffected, with the majority of cancelled flights domestic and some to Rome, Milan and Paris.
In Portugal, border control staff will be striking on Monday 29 May – passengers might experience delays when entering and leaving the country.
In Italy, ongoing transport strikes will continue on Friday 26 May when a nationwide public and private sector strike will take place, affecting public transport across the country, and from airports. Air traffic control is not likely to be affected. However, industrial action by airport ground handling staff that was scheduled for 19 May has been postponed until Sunday 4 June, as a result of recent flooding in Emilia Romagna.
There are no plans for industrial action in France during the half term week, however a national day of action will take place on 6 June, when disruption to flights across Europe, as well as to domestic travel routes, is likely.
