 Thousands of Iberia passengers have seen flights cancelled |
Spanish airline Iberia is planning to ask a court to declare a pilots' strike illegal if the two sides cannot reach a compromise soon. Its pilots began a week-long strike on Monday, protesting at Iberia's plans to launch a low-cost airline - which they fear will lead to pay and job cuts.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled during its busiest week of the year.
Iberia has said it will give pilots written job guarantees, but a series of meetings have failed to reach a deal.
Budget airline plans
"Today there is a meeting and if there is no agreement, Iberia will ask for the strike to be declared illegal," an Iberia spokesman said.
Iberia is cancelling about 240 flights a day at a cost of five million euros ($6.4m; �3.5m) per day.
Flights hit by the strike were mainly those serving destinations within Spain.
It said 140,000 passengers had been affected, but 100,000 of those had been offered places on other flights.
Iberia wants to launch a budget airline, provisionally called Catair, to help it compete with low-cost carriers in Europe, where it makes two-thirds of its passenger revenues.
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