Spain stops for 24 hours today. Flights abroad keep only 39% to 64% of their schedule
CCOO, UGT, CGT and CNT have called a general strike for Wednesday 11 November over pay, housing and prices. Spain's Transport Ministry set minimum services of 73% on AVE trains, 75% at peak on Cercanías and 39% to 64% on international flights.
Spain is on a 24-hour general strike today, Wednesday 11 November, running midnight to midnight. If you are flying there from Portugal, the number that matters is the minimum service: on flights between Spain and other countries, which covers routes to Lisbon and Porto, the Spanish government has ordered airlines to keep between 39% and 64% of operations, depending on the airport.
The figures come from Spain’s Transport Ministry and, according to the minimum-services list reported by Spain’s Público, the aim on those international flights is to rebook around 65% of passengers. Put the other way round, roughly one traveller in three may have to change plans.
Who called Spain’s general strike, and why?
The two big union confederations, CCOO and UGT, called it alongside CGT, CNT, several regional unions, the actors’ union and a tenants’ federation. Notice was lodged with the Labour Ministry on 19 October under a three-word slogan: wages, housing, prices.
In practice CCOO and UGT want across-the-board pay rises of 4% to 7% and a minimum-wage increase of at least 7% in 2027. They also want rent controls, more public housing and stronger protection against evictions. In workplaces that run shifts, the stoppage can begin with Wednesday’s first shift and end with the last one, which may finish on Thursday.
Which trains and flights run during the 11 November strike?
These are the minimums the ministry decreed, as reported in the Spanish press:
- High-speed and long-distance trains (AVE and Larga Distancia): 73% of services.
- Regional (Media Distancia): 65% on average.
- Cercanías commuter trains: 75% from 06:00 to 09:00, 13:30 to 15:30 and 18:30 to 20:30, and 50% the rest of the day.
- Flights to the Balearics, Canaries, Ceuta and Melilla: 52% to 85%.
- International flights and routes with no transport alternative under five hours: 39% to 64%.
- Mainland flights where a train or bus takes less than five hours: just 18% to 37%.
Madrid’s metro runs 80% of trains at peak and 50% off-peak. Spanish press tallies put more than 4,600 flights and about 663,000 passengers in the strike’s path in a single day.
What travellers from Portugal should do
Check your flight with the airline itself before leaving home. The minimums are overall percentages, not a promise that any particular flight survives. Driving in? Expect marches in several cities through the day.
Then there is the weather. Storm Charles, which closed Portugal’s schools and public services today, is also expected over Galicia, which could stack weather delays on top of strike ones. The minimum services themselves came out of the ministry run by Carlos Cuerpo since Óscar Puente resigned, a brief he holds alongside Economy until the election.
By Beatriz Mota
Image: Draceane / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
