Workers for Spanish Airline Iberia are are on a five-day strike to protest planned job and salary cuts. Due to the strike, several flights have been cancelled.
With a lack of staff, Iberia has been forced to cancel more than 400 out of 1,000 flights that were scheduled for this week, the BBC reports.. Several cabin crew members and baggage handlers are protesting.
Due to the lack of services, Iberia predicts that more than 1,000 flights from various airlines will be affected.
The airline recently announced that it plans to cut 3,807 jobs after it lost a significant amount of money last year. During the first nine months of 2012, Iberia lost $349 million.
To fight this, airline worker unions are planning to hold three different five-day strikes in February and March, starting with this one.
Iberia will take another hit as 70,000 passengers will be affected by this first strike. However the airline arranged for 60,000 to find seats on other flights.
According tot he airline, 90 percent of its long-haul flights will be operating. Domestic flights are taking the biggest hit a more than half of the flights are cancelled. These 15 days worth of strikes will cause a bigger loss for the airlines as analysts predict Iberia will lose over $133 million.
In 2011, Iberia merged with British Airways to create the International Airlines Group. The new management has been trying to reduce costs. The airline also took a bit from competition from low-cost airlines and a long recession.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
