Airlines are concerned about airport delays

(Graph: ABC)

SPAIN (Agencies) The war of attrition that has been going on for some time between air traffic controllers and the airport authority AENA seems to have opened another front. The airlines federation, Asociación de Compañías Españolas de Transporte Aéreo (ACETA) has decided to break its silence on the subject by announcing its 'deepest concern' about the 'significant increase' in the number of delays experienced by its members at Spanish airports, a problem that is impacting directly on the 'quality of service' they can offer, as well as on their costs. AENA, on the other hand, insists that punctuality has improved by 17% since June last year, a figure not shared in the least by the airlines, who quote the latest reports from the European security entity Eurocontrol. These show Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Madrid Barajas heading the list of delays. "There are definitely problems and we have noticed siginificant increase ìn delays+ over the last few weeks," says the association, which includes airlines such as IAG (ex-Iberia), Air Europa, Air Nostrum, Vueling and Binter Canarias, among others.

Chief air traffic controller accuses his bosses of threats because he blew whistle on Gibraltar risks

SEVILLA (Agencies/Image: bigariato2.blogspot.com, illustration only) A court in Seville recently agreed to investigate five top management staff at AENA, the national airport authority, for "threats and abuse " against the chief supervisor of the Southern Air Traffic Control section, Juna Carlos Fontecha. Fontecha alleges that the situation began in January 2010 when he decided to denounce "the dangers involved in flying in and around Gibraltar, sitation which was made worse by the new helicopter service flying from Algeciras." Physical threats and abuse also involved his wife, also an air traffic controller. The matter resulted in Fontecha receiving three very serious  written warnings from AENA. However, having heard the testimony of the five bosses, the court decided yesterday to absolve them all.

Christmas flights are safe as military control is extended

The state of emergency decree which has put all Spanish airports under control of the military will be extended until the 15th of January, after a special Council of Ministers authorised the government to extend the measure. The state of emergency was decreed after air traffic controllers made an undeclared strike, causing hundreds of thousands of people to be stranded at Spanish airports during the early Decembers long weekend. Representatives of hotels, travel agencies and tourism organizations were especially pleased with the measure because it "ensures the Christmas travel season continues without illegal activities to disrupt it". Some 600,000 people are expected to stay in hotels from December 22 to January 6th (Feast of Kings), for instance, and this time of year is peak travel time for airlines. Meanwhile, Minister of Development Jose Blanco announced yesterday that the air traffic control system in Spain is to be privatised, with full privatisation scheduled by the end of 2011.