Ryanair Strike
BUDGET airline, Ryanair, has announced more flight cancellations for today blaming a strike, at short notice, called by the VC pilots union in Germany.
The German pilots announced they will join the existing strike by cabin crew in Spain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy and Dutch pilots.
A Tweet suggests the new total could be in the region of 250 cancelled flights.
The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority has urged people who have had flights canceled to claim compensation under European air passengers’ rights rules.
However, the airline has said they will reject compensation claims for strikes because they were caused by ‘extraordinary circumstances’.
Taxi Action
ÜBER and Cabify cars blocked Madrid’s main business boulevard yesterday in a counter-protest against taxi drivers trying to get them off the streets.
Around 40 black vehicles staged a slow procession carrying banners reading: “There’s enough work for everyone – monopolies out.”
Taxi drivers have been protesting in major cities and holding strikes leaving airports in chaos as they resent the competition provided by car-pooling and chauffeur-driven hire car networks.
Minister Trouble
Spain’s science minister, the former astronaut Pedro Duque, yesterday denied having committed any tax irregularities with the 2005 purchase of a property in Jávea. Duque bought the house via a holding company he’d set up.
The minister – who made history as the first Spaniard to have traveled into space – explained yesterday that he had made the purchase on the recommendation of business consultants, and that there had been “no real tax saving of any kind”
Duque was forced to convene a press conference after the story was broken by Spanish online news site Ok Diario.
Stolen Scooters
Police in Benidorm have arrested a man accused of stealing 17 mobility scooters
Officers say he watched hotels and kept track on holidaymaker users to build up a pattern of their movements, before choosing vehicles he could take with a master key.
The mobility scooters he allegedly stole have been valued at more than £20,000.
Police say the 46-year-old Spaniard, who has not been named, put stickers on them afterwards so they would not be recognised as the ones stolen.
Only seven of the 17 mobility scooters taken have been recovered.