Workers at Palma Airport in Majorca, Spain, are due to strike this week, which will likely contribute to long queues there.
Millions of people travel through the location, also known as Son Sant Joan Airport, each year.
The latest strike follows partial stoppages and protests that have taken place in recent weeks.
Brits travelling to Palma Airport this week may be hit with extra travel disruption (Image: Getty Images)
How will the planned strike affect travel at Palma Airport?
The 24-hour strike will take place at the airport on Wednesday, June 17.
It will see workers who provide assistance to passengers with reduced mobility down tools.
This could see passengers take longer to board and leave planes once they land.
It comes after they rejected the latest offer from airport services contractor Adelte, Majorca Daily Bulletin reports.
A total of 96% of the 151 employees who took part in a ballot backed the strike, which follows on from smaller disputes over recent weeks.
The website adds: “The strike threatens to disrupt a key service at one of Spain’s busiest holiday airports during the peak summer season.
“Union representatives argue that Adelte’s proposal would have left staff with worse employment conditions than those they currently enjoy, prompting near-unanimous opposition from the workforce.”
Among the main issues workers have brought up include ‘on-call’ working, meaning workers but remain by their phones 24/7, as well as working more hours than contracted.
Workers are also being urged to join a demonstration at Palma Airport on Saturday
How does the strike affect British travellers?
Millions of Brits fly to the popular Spanish island each year, meaning many will see disruption due to the planned strike this week.
Hundreds of flights run each week between the UK and Majorca.
Many operate out of London-based airports, such as Gatwick, Stansted, Heathrow, Luton and Southend (SEN).
Many other UK airports that fly there too, including Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, and Bournemouth.
The major airlines that operate flights between the UK and Palma include:
Strike action is not the only travel issue hitting Brits
British travellers to various European destinations have already been warned of longer queues this summer.
This is due to the wider rollout of the EU’s Entry and Exit System (EES), which requires British travellers and other non-EU visitors to provide biometric data, including fingerprints and facial scans, when entering the Schengen Area.
The new system has received backlash since its introduction, due to it causing longer waits for passengers at airports.
Major airlines, including Jet2 and Ryanair, have called for the rollout of the new system to be suspended until after the summer to allow for a “smoother airport experience” during peak travel season.
CEO of Ryanair’s Malta subsidiary, Malta Air, David O’Brien, also previously threatened to pull all flights.
Airline industry leaders have warned that the new checks could dramatically increase processing times at passport control.
Rafael Schvartzman, vice-president for Europe at IATA, said the system increases passenger processing times from around 20-25 seconds to as much as 90 seconds per traveller, creating a “hard risk” of lengthy queues and missed flights.
Schvartzman told IATA’s annual meeting that places were implementing the system differently and some did not have the required technology or infrastructure and kiosks were understaffed, The Times reports.
He added: “What we are seeing is a very hard risk of really challenging times or waiting times, talking about expectations of three, four, five, six hours, which is unacceptable.
“We know for a fact there are many cases where people have lost flights or their connectivity.”
Mallorca is among the worst-affected holiday hotspots, alongside Lisbon, Lanzarote and Alicante.
Nicole Kerr, chief executive of transport platform Mozio, also warned that holidaymakers should be prepared for potential disruption.
“UK searches for ‘summer holiday deals’ have increased by 123% in the past three months, as Brits look to secure their travel plans ahead of peak season,” she said.
“While a holiday is meant to be a relaxing and stress-free experience, experts have warned that changes to the travel industry could cause delays and confusion.”
She added how the new Entry/Exit System was likely to be one of the biggest challenges facing travellers this summer.
“Passengers travelling to European airports will now have to use the new European Entry/Exit System, which requires biometric data, such as fingerprints and a facial image.
“While the new system is expected to reduce wait times at passport control in the future, Brits have already experienced long delays as the rollout continues.”
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Ms Kerr also warned that delays may not end when passengers leave the terminal.
“Alongside these procedures, travellers will inevitably be met with other challenges which could cause delays, such as airport strikes and long taxi queues when leaving the terminal,” Ms Kerr said.
“In 2025, travellers reported long taxi queues at airports across popular tourist destinations, including the Canary Islands.”
Will the upcoming strike at Palma Airport in Mallorca affect you? Let us know in the poll above or the comments below.
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