Iberia halts talks with striking pilots

The airline Iberia said today it had decided to halt talks with pilots who are staging a series of one-day strikes this summer…

The airline Iberia said today it had decided to halt talks with pilots who are staging a series of one-day strikes this summer. It accused the pilots' union of permanent blackmail.

Iberia, Spain's biggest airline, has already cancelled about a quarter of scheduled flights for Tuesday when pilots' union SEPLA has called the third of 10 one-day strikes between June and August, the height of Spain's tourism season.

Iberia said in a statement its management has reached the limit of what it can offer the pilots' union, accepting virtually all the requests of SEPLA, representing a salary increase of 26 per cent over four years.