Several flights scheduled from Barcelona-El Prat airport are affected this Tuesday due to the indefinite strike called by the company Groundforce in ground services or “handling.” The company provides services to Air Europa, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Qatar Airways, and among others, Etihad Airways. Union sources explain that the strike participation is “very high” among the 1,179 workers the company has. By noon, the incidents affect about twenty flights, with sixteen cancellations, according to the CGT union.
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In statements collected by the Efe agency, the spokesperson of the strike committee, Esther García, pointed out that since the start of the strike, midnight from Monday to Tuesday, eight operations have been canceled, that is, 16 flights round trip, while two other flights have operated without luggage. Among the suspended operations, there were flights originating or destined for Germany, Italy, and Austria.
The strike occurs at the peak of activity at the airport. Josep Tarradellas closed the first half of the year with a traffic volume above 28 million passengers. Specifically, from the beginning of 2026 until the end of June, 28.3 million passengers passed through its facilities, 4.4% more than between January and June 2025.
Tuesday’s strike affects ground assistance staff, passenger check-in and boarding, and flight coordination at the airport – made up of these 1,179 workers – according to CGT, which holds the majority in the company’s works council, composed of 27 delegates.
It is expected that, from the start of the strike today until September, the companies served by Groundforce in Barcelona will schedule about 11,600 movements, offering nearly 2.4 million seats. According to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, considering the expected occupancy factors for these months, nearly two million passengers could be affected.
Currently, Groundforce serves international and national airlines operating in both terminals of the Barcelona airport, such as Air Europa, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Qatar Airways, ElAl, Etihad Airways, SAS, Air Arabia, Turkish Airlines, ITA Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Croatia Airlines, United Airlines, Finnair, Asiana Airlines, Saudia Airlines, Air China, Air Transat, or Luxair.
The decision to go on strike, according to CGT, responds to management’s inaction regarding the “serious deterioration” of risk prevention and occupational health conditions at the base. Groundforce obtained twelve licenses in the last award for ground assistance service from Aena, in September 2023, for the twelve airports with the highest cargo volume where the company operates in Spain.
In March, CCOO, UGT, and USO called an indefinite strike in the same company, which provides ground assistance service at the airports of Barcelona, Madrid, Alicante, Valencia, Palma, Ibiza, Málaga, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and Bilbao. According to the ministry’s resolution, for commercial operations, it has set a protection of 80% in August and 77% in September for Barcelona Airport connections with non-peninsular territories or under public service obligation.
For international routes and peninsular flights whose public transport alternative exceeds five hours, minimum services will be 58% in August and 57% in September. Meanwhile, peninsular routes with a transport alternative under five hours will have guaranteed operations of 35% during August and 36% in September.
