EasyJet cancels 8 flights in Barcelona airport on last day of cabin crew strike

The low-cost airline, EasyJet, cancelled eight flights at Barcelona airport on Friday, the last day of the cabin crew strike, as reported by the USO union, which called for the strike.

The affected flights were travelling to Berlin, Basel, Strasbourg, Naples, Lisbon, Nice, and two to Geneva.

Overall, the company has cancelled 40 flights across the four different bases in Spain, a total of 80 flights, counting the return trips. 

In Málaga, EasyJet cancelled 11 flights, 5 in Alicante, and 17 in Palma de Mallorca.

USO sources do not rule out extending the three-day strike to all of August, which started on Wednesday.

In Barcelona, EasyJet cancelled nine flights on Wednesday and nine more on Thursday. Overall, 210 flights were cancelled, affecting 62% of the scheduled flights for the three days, according to USO.

Cabin crew are demanding better wages and working conditions, and are calling for Spanish workers' salaries to be aligned with those in the rest of Europe.

The USO union says that EasyJet cabin crew in Spain earn just over €14,000, compared to €18,214 in Portugal, €43,516 in Switzerland, €19,086 in Italy, and €23,520 in the United Kingdom.

In a written statement shared with Catalan News, EasyJet says that they "take their responsibilities as employers very serious and hire all the personnel under local contracts, aligned with local legislation and the market practices," the text reads.

The company claims that due to these characteristics, "it is not possible to compare labor conditions between different markets," and regardless of the complaints by the union, they "continue to receive a high number of requests to be a member of EasyJet's cabin crew in Spain, which shows the competitive conditions offered by the company in the market."

On the last day of the strike, Pier Luigi Copello, secretary general of USO EasyJet has said, in a written statement, that "unfortunately, there had not been any other way than calling this strike as EasyJet has not been able to grant a good offer that puts an end with the large pay gap that easyJet Spain suffers compared to other cabin crews in Europe."