Overview
- Groundforce’s indefinite, partial strike, which began Monday, covers three daily windows on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays across 12 Aena airports, with about 3,000 workers called out.
- Unions report average delays near an hour and some flights leaving without checked bags, though operations in hubs like Madrid and Barcelona have since steadied with only scattered holdups.
- The disruption falls mainly on airlines that use Groundforce, including Air Europa and Lufthansa, while carriers with in‑house or other providers such as Iberia or Vueling are largely unaffected.
- Authorities set minimum service levels of roughly 79% to 81%, a level unions call excessive because it sharply limits how much ground work can pause during the strike windows.
- A planned strike at handler Menzies was called off after an agreement at the SIMA mediation service, and passengers affected by Groundforce delays or cancellations can seek refunds, care and, in some cases, compensation under EU rules.