Ryanair has submitted a redundancy plan (ERE) affecting around one hundred ground handling staff at Santiago de Compostela Airport, following the company’s announcement in early September regarding the closure of its base at Rosalía de Castro-Lavacolla, effective from 26 October.
In a press conference in Santiago, Alberto Couceiro, the president of the Azul Handling workers’ committee – the company responsible for Ryanair’s ground services – explained that on Tuesday, 16 September, they were notified of this redundancy plan, of which they have “no” further information. He stated that there are 135 cabin crew members who will be reassigned to other terminals, but the “more immediate” issue lies with between 100 and 120 ground handling workers who will face redundancy, as reported by Europa Press.
Accordingly, the Azul Handling workers’ committee in Santiago – comprised of CIG and CC.OO. – warns that Ryanair’s flights from the Galician capital will be reduced from 100 to 15 per week, resulting in a 50% loss of passengers, from between 1.5 to 2 million of the 4 million it handles annually. They also caution that approximately 75% of direct jobs at the terminal (security, catering, cleaning, car rental, etc.) will be lost. “We will regress 30 years in air transport in Galicia,” lamented Couceiro, who warns that Galicia will become “isolated” from the rest of Spain and Europe. He noted that Porto Airport may benefit from the lack of coordination among the three Galician terminals.
Whilst there is speculation that other companies such as Vueling or EasyJet could fill the gap left by Ryanair, the workers assert that the Irish airline has more aircraft than any other in the world, meaning that the fleet availability of other carriers is not comparable, estimating they would only cover around 10% of the offer.
Worker representatives have met with the Secretary General of Employment of the Xunta and will be holding further meetings with parliamentary groups and affected municipalities. They also call for the involvement of the Presidents of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, to address what they describe as Ryanair’s “blackmail.”
They are demanding a “joint strategy” from the Xunta for the three airports, aimed at progressing a map of air routes. They also urge the Ministry of Labour to implement a specific plan to “prevent a traumatic redundancy scenario”. Furthermore, they plan to carry out mobilisations, with the first taking place on 25 September at 9:30 AM coinciding with the intervention of union representatives at the Santiago City Council meeting.
The committee fears that Ryanair may implement a strategy to dismiss personnel with 20 years of service, only to reopen in June 2026 with temporary contracts, following a planned one-and-a-half-month renovation at Lavacolla next year. It is noteworthy that this base is profitable for the airline, with flights fully booked 96% of the time.
