Airports back on track; controllers evade military law

Spanish airports continued their return to normal operational levels on Monday following a mass walkout by air traffic controllers over the weekend. Airport authority AENA said it had programmed 4,053 flights, a normal day's volume the body said, although a lingering hangover from the weekend's disruption produced 40 cancellations. Of 291 controllers scheduled to work on Monday only 11 were absent, a figure AENA again termed normal.

Spain's controllers staged a massive covert strike on Friday but have found scant sympathy for their cause. In a written proposal for a new collective agreement presented to the secretary of state for transport, Isa¨ªas T¨¢boas, the USCA controllers' union asked for 250 hours' less work per year for the same wage. But public opinion has gathered behind the government's decision invoke a 15-day state of alert.

"We approved the government's proposal for the application of the Royal Decree last Thursday," opposition Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy said yesterday. "The government will, though, have to explain to Spaniards how we came to such a lamentable situation."

The public prosecutor said it will not pursue controllers for the charge of breaking military law as the offenses took place before the army was brought in.

AENA is to take 442 of its controllers to task. Charges of breaking the Air Traffic Criminal Law will be pursued "on a case-by-case" basis by the courts.