Spain's Iberia cancels 239 flights due to strike

A strike by workers at loss-making Spanish airline Iberia against mass job cuts forced the cancellation of 239 flights on Tuesday, the company said. Iberia cancelled 76 flights on Tuesday, or 40 percent of the total number of flights that it had been scheduled to operate, because of the action, an Iberia spokesman said. Three other carriers with whom Iberia shares services -- Iberia Express, Air Nostrum and Vueling -- cancelled another 163 flights because of the strike. A minimum service operates during the strike under Spanish law. All affected passengers were put on other flights or got a refund, the Iberia spokesman said. The strike started on Monday, the second of three five-day stoppages scheduled by Iberia ground and flight staff. The company and the three other carriers have cancelled a total of around 1,370 flights overall from March 4-8, mainly to destinations in Spain and Europe. The airline's staff carried out the first of three five-day strikes February 18-22 and plan another from March 18 to 22. The first strike cost Iberia 3.0 million euros ($3.9 million) a day, the Iberia spokesman said. It was too soon to tell what the cost to the company will be from the second five-day strike, he added. Iberia staff are furious at plans to cut 3,800 jobs, reduce salaries and cut back on flights after the airline merged with British Airways to form the IAG group. The head of Spanish pilots' union Sepla, Justo Peral, said Iberia was being used to plug a deficit in British Airway's pension scheme of over six billion euros. "The merger is damaging for Spain and Iberia, which is being infected by the serious structural deficit which BA's pension fund has," he said in an interview with Spanish public television TVE. "With the job cuts and the dismantlement of Iberia, we are paying for this structural financial deficit which BA has to pay its pensions and to face up to its plan to renew its fleet," he added. IAG announced an annual net loss of 943 million euros ($1.2 billion) in 2012, citing financial strains at Iberia and a soaring fuel bill. Iberia executives say the airline accumulated 850 million euros in losses between 2008 and September 2012.