No deal yet in Polish air traffic row that could leave planes grounded

Aircrafts are seen grounded on the Warsaw airport April 16, 2010. REUTERS/Petr Josek/File Photograph

WARSAW, April 22 (Reuters) – Poland failed to achieve settlement with air visitors controllers on Friday in a dispute over pay and circumstances, a commerce union spokeswoman stated, shifting airways nearer to what European authorities have stated might be mass flight cancellations.

The disruption, affecting not solely flights to and from Poland but in addition these passing by means of the nation’s airspace, might begin on Might 1, the day after the top of the discover interval for air visitors controllers who selected to stop moderately than settle for new working laws they are saying threaten security.

Talks will resume on Sunday afternoon, the spokeswoman stated.

European air security physique Eurocontrol stated Poland’s Civil Aviation Authority will drastically lower the variety of flights in Polish airspace if no settlement is reached.

“As of 1 Might, the Polish CAA will implement a flight cancellation programme to considerably cut back the variety of flights into/out of Polish airspace,” Eurocontrol stated in an emailed assertion.

“It’s anticipated that there might be sufficient controllers for the strategy to Warsaw airports to function … with a complete capability of round 170 flights. The 2 Warsaw airports had been anticipated to deal with on common 510 flights every day in Might.”

In line with the Polish air visitors controllers’ union, 180 out of 206 controllers working in Warsaw selected to resign moderately than settle for the brand new working circumstances. Forty-four of the 180 have already left, and the discover interval for the remaining 136 ends on April 30.

The union says proposals together with a lower in air visitors controllers’ pay and a rise from eight to 12 within the most variety of hours they will work in a shift are unacceptable.

“We’re combating for security and for the return of a tradition of labor security and this implies an setting of belief, which is constructed, not purchased,” it stated in a press release on Thursday.

Deputy Infrastructure Minister Marcin Horala has beforehand stated the air visitors controllers’ pay calls for aren’t reasonable given the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has decreased the charges the Polish Air Navigation Providers Company (PANSA) will get from airways.

Reporting by Alan Charlish and Anna Koper; Modifying by Hugh Lawson, William Maclean and Catherine Evans

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