Airport strike over Easter: Groundforce and Menzies shut down Canary Islands airports — what travellers must do now

Anyone flying to or from Gran Canaria during Easter week should prepare for disruption. Two major ground handling companies — Groundforce and Menzies — are striking simultaneously at Spain's busiest airports. The Canary Islands are particularly affected because both companies operate there.

What is happening

Groundforce began an indefinite strike on March 27. Strike days are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in three time slots: 5-7am, 11am-5pm and 10pm-midnight. Groundforce serves 12 airports in Spain, including Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

Menzies — with around 3,000 employees in Spain — has announced 24-hour full strikes for April 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. These are the core days of Semana Santa. Menzies serves Tenerife North, Tenerife South and Gran Canaria.

The worst scenario: on April 2 (Maundy Thursday) and April 3 (Good Friday), both companies strike simultaneously. This is the absolute worst case for travellers.

Which airlines are affected

Ryanair is most vulnerable — its 25-minute turnaround model collapses when ground handling slows down. One delayed aircraft causes chain reactions across 8-10 subsequent flights.

easyJet, Jet2, TUI, Condor and Vueling are also directly affected. Package holiday travellers (Jet2, TUI) face the additional problem of pre-booked hotels and transfers.

Iberia has issued a waiver: free rebooking for all flights from March 27 to April 8, with no fare difference.

What travellers should do

Arrive 4 hours before departure. The official recommendation has been doubled from 2 to 4 hours.

Travel carry-on only. The biggest risk is lost or delayed baggage. Flying with hand luggage only bypasses the main problem.

Book early flights. Morning departures are less affected than afternoon and evening flights, as delays accumulate throughout the day.

Check rebooking options. Iberia offers free changes. Other airlines (Ryanair, easyJet) offer similar arrangements in some cases — check directly on the airline website.

Know your EU261 rights. For delays over 3 hours or cancellations, passengers are entitled to compensation of up to 600 euros — including for ground handler strikes (not airline strikes).

Minimum services — what this means

Spain's Transport Ministry has ordered minimum services: 80% during Semana Santa, 84% in April on key routes. This means most flights will operate. But "minimum services" does not mean "normal operations" — longer check-in queues, delayed baggage and chain delays are the realistic scenario.

Background: why the strikes

At Groundforce, the dispute centres on pay: unions demand a 7.82% increase (inflation-adjusted), the company offers 4.58%. At Menzies, the issues are salary arrears, payroll errors and scheduling problems. This is already the third Menzies strike in two years.