Islas Airways staff ‘walkout’ forces flight cancellations

Update 10/10/2012 @ 14:20 – Islas Airways has today re-commenced its operations with 22 programmed flights. The first flights were between Tenerife and Gran Canaria and departed on time. The airlines representative, José Daniel Díaz said that he hopes that the staff will remain at work throughout the day and they will not ‘become ill’ as they did yesterday causing flight cancellations. He also stated that the airline is owed over €12 million.

Update 10/10/2012 @ 08:20 – Islas Airways had said in a statement that, despite having to cancel 33 of its 51 flights yesterday due to the majority of their staff ‘becoming ill’, that it will continue to operate today (Wednesday 10th October 2012). There are increasing rumours that the company is in serious financial difficulties as it is alleged it owes its over 100 staff three months wages and has numerous debts.

A total of 24 Islas Airways flights have been cancelled today due to the airlines staff walking out and refusing to work. The staff claim that the company owes them three months wages and despite numerous requests for a financial plan to clarify their future there has been a lack of response from the airline. The staff have today finally decided to stop working. The walkout took place at 14:00 today and from then, none of the scheduled routes between the islands have been able to take place leaving passengers no option but to book with alternative airlines. Last week an Islas Airways plane was unable to take off due to the reported economic difficulties the company is experiencing and the ongoing alleged fraud investigation over the use of the 50% resident subsidy for passenger transport between the Canary Islands. This process has frozen grants due to the airline and therefore reduced their revenue drastically.