Spanish skies reopen after strike chaos

Flights only resumed at 4pm after the military penal code forcing controllers to return to work was imposed, the first time a Spanish government had employed such a measure since the end of General Franco's fascist dictatorship in 1975.

The move put the military in charge of Spain's air traffic control, although it was unable to direct civilian aircraft during the industrial action.

The strike caused travel chaos for thousands early yesterday as airlines cancelled flights in and out of the country.

Strikers only started to return to work after being threatened with jail under military law. A small number of flights were operating last night.

A civil aviation official said 11 of 15 controllers at Barcelona's airport were back on duty, along with an unspecified number at Madrid's Barajas airport.

Declaring the state of alert deputy prime minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the air traffic controllers were trying to protect "unacceptable privileges".

"Our airports are at a standstill, and according to the Spanish constitution, the government is imposing a state of alert," he said.

"The immediate effect is that the controllers are now under orders to go back to work and can be charged with a crime under the military penal code if they refuse. The state of alert will initially last for 15 days."

He added: "This means that all of the controllers are going to be mobilised and, if they do not go to work, they will immediately be handed over for judicial process accused of a crime that could imply grave prison sentences."

Air controllers abandoned their posts on Saturday. The walk-out came after prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his ministers approved a package of austerity measures – including a move to partially privatise airports and hand over management of the Madrid and Barcelona airports to the private sector.

It was not clear if Zapatero would take the drastic measure of firing all air traffic controllers as US president Ronald Reagan did in 1981 during a similar strike.

Spanish soldiers are not trained to use civilian airport equipment but instead were in place to give orders to the traffic controllers who reported for work at the country's major airports.

The walk-out had also closed four airports in the Canary Islands as well as airports in Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca and Menorca.

The strikes, the latest development in a long-running dispute with the government over working conditions and benefits, left thousands of British holidaymakers stranded unable to return to the UK.

The controllers were already involved in a dispute about their working hours, but were further angered by austerity measures passed by the government on Friday which would partially privatise airport operator AENA.

"We have reached our limit mentally with the new decree approved this morning obliging us to work more hours," said Jorge Ontiveros, a spokesman for the Syndicate Union of Air Controllers.

"We took the decision individually, which then spread to other colleagues who stopped work because they cannot carry on like this. In this situation we cannot control planes."

The head of AENA, Juan Ignacio Lema, said the strike was "intolerable", and told the controllers to "stop blackmailing the Spanish people".

Airlines including Ryanair, easyJet and Iberia have cancelled all Spanish flights until this morning.

Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) spokesman Sean Tipton said: "It is a pretty quiet time of year but there will be thousands of British people stuck over there.

"There have been widespread cancellations. Customers due to travel out today need to keep in contact with their airline or tour operator."

Tipton said customers who were yet to travel to Spain would be given the option to rebook their flights, or would be offered a refund. Tour operators would be making efforts to reschedule flights for those on package holidays, he added.

People due to fly out to Spain have been urged to contact their airline before travelling to airports. Many are understood to have heeded the warnings not to leave home, but others have been arriving at airports, only to learn they cannot leave the UK.

UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the industrial action had not been expected. He said: "We had no advance warning of this action in Spain.

"Clearly the airports are in any case suffering from delays and disruption due to bad weather."

The action came in a week when passengers scheduled to fly in and out of British airports faced travel chaos as a result of the widespread snow that has hit the UK.

Keith Beevor, of Penrith, Cumbria, who has been stuck in Alicante for two days, said he had no idea when he would be able to return home.

He said: "People are quite calm at the moment. But things might change if it's a long time before we can get away."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We strongly advise anyone planning to fly this weekend, either to or from Spain, to contact their airline or travel operator before travelling to the airport.

"Our consular staff in Spain will continue to monitor the situation very closely over the next few days and offer support to affected British nationals where it is needed."

Tourism accounts for about 11 per cent of Spain's gross domestic product and the Spanish Hotel Confederation said the disruption would lead to millions of euros in losses and damage Spain's image as a holiday destination...