Sources from Binter Canarias reported that, despite the ground staff strike, flight punctuality this Monday was 91 percent, with an occupancy rate more than 10 percent higher compared to last Monday, and delays of about 15 minutes in the connection of passengers from the various islands to Paris.
According to data collected by the company, which reiterated its willingness to continue negotiating with the strikers, until 1:00 p.m. this Monday, a total of 60 flights were carried out normally, showing a "zero incidence" of the protest and an increase of between 9 and 10 percent in passenger traffic.
700 more passengers
Likewise, Binter Canarias pointed out that last Sunday 700 more passengers flew than the previous Sunday, with absolute figures of 8,030 travelers compared to 7,300 on Sunday the 6th. Last Friday, 9,160 passengers were transported by the Canarian airline, exceeding the 8,945 on Friday the 4th. Binter Canarias once again thanked the passengers for their trust and highlighted "the effort of the entire company staff to effectively carry out the planned tasks".
For his part, a member of the Comisiones Obreras union residing in the Province of Las Palmas, who asked to keep his name confidential, assured this newspaper that the company "is not playing fair" in the strike, but above all he stressed that it is endangering air safety in the Archipelago, so much so that, according to his version, the Binter Operations management ordered the pilots to refrain from noting any type of breakdown.
La Voz tried to contact the Binter press office to hear the airline's version, but the telephone was not answered during several attempts made in the afternoon. However, the Efe news agency in a note published reporting on the latest developments in the Binter strike says that the company will not allow the safety of the planes to be questioned and that it will take the legal actions it deems appropriate against those who try to discredit it.
The union's data
Comisiones Obreras warns that Binter company flights have been suffering delays of up to four hours in the first three days of the strike. According to the union, in a statement, the impact of the stoppages this Sunday affected 12 flights, some of them with an average delay of 4 hours, according to AENA sources to the union, which estimates that the impact on this Monday's day has been similar.
Likewise, CC.OO. indicates that the airline has decided to suspend a promotional flight with journalists to Milan, scheduled for this week, given the poor conditions that are being observed on the company's flights.
The company Binter has summoned the Strike Committee to hold a meeting this Tuesday, November 15 at 4:00 p.m. at the company's headquarters in Gran Canaria, a meeting that the union affirms it will attend "with the same desire to reach an agreement that it has maintained in the seven previous meetings".
CC.OO. describes the impact of the strike as "an important success", mainly because it affirms that it has been developing "in an environment of secrecy" due to the minimum services "of one hundred percent" decreed by the socialist Government. The strike will continue on the 18th, 20th, 21st, 25th, 27th and 28th of November and the 2nd, 4th and 5th of December.
The promoters of the strike will try "by all means" to ensure that the minimum services are not respected for future days of stoppages. It is difficult to see the effects of a strike in a company that, like Binter, has practically no employees. All personnel are contracted by the satellite company Atlántica de Handling, except for mechanics and accounting personnel. In Lanzarote, for example, Binter has no workers.
