Jet2 is reportedly cutting a service tourists love in a move poised to put hundreds of jobs at risk in Spain and the Canary Islands. The tour operator is said to be ending its free resort flight check in service allowing customers to check their bags in at their hotels on the day they depart, meaning travellers don’t have to lug their suitcases around till their flights.
Launched in 2016, the service is said to have proven popular with travellers, though it was paused during the Covid pandemic.
It restarted in June, with Canarian Weekly reporting many people left jobs to join Jet2 but now face being made redundant after only 10 months.
The news website reports 996 staff at airports in Alicante, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura have been told Jet2 will be consulting unions to agree a resolution as 35 percent of roles will be cut.
A Jet2 spokesperson said: “We have recently reviewed our operations in Spain. As a result, we must sadly propose a number of colleague redundancies across resort flight check-in, flight deck and cabin crew roles.
“We deeply regret these proposed redundancies, and we will be consulting with appropriate representatives of the affected colleagues to ensure that all options are fully considered.”
News of the potential redundancies comes as Brits have been warned 1,000 flights to Spain are at risk of being cancelled this Easter weekend. Employees at Spanish aircraft guidance firm Platform Management Service (SDP) scheduled strikes on Wednesday (March 27) and Friday (March 29).
Ground personnel employed by Aeropuertos Espanoles y Navegacion Aerea (AENA), will carry out a series of daily strikes at Valencia Airport between 11am and 1pm from today (March 28) until April 1.
Officials believe the strikes could impact hundreds of flights in total at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport.
Possible airlines and destinations affected include Ryanair at Rome, Milan, Bologna, Breslavia, Treviso, Trieste, Palma, Dublin, Marrakech and Sofia and United at Frankfurt.
Other airports and destinations reportedly affected include Lufthansa at Frankfurt and Munich; Austrian for Vienna; Air Nostrum at Ibiza and Delta for Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Air France for Paris Charles de Gaulle; Air Europa for Palma de Mallorca and Easyjet services for London may also see impacts.
Further possible services impacted are British Airways for London; Brussels Airlines for Brussels; Iberia for Tenerife North; Tap Portugal for Lisbon; Turkish Airlines for Istanbul and Swiss for Zurich.
Volotea at A Coruña and San Sebastián as well as Vueling at Tenerife North are also potentially affected as is Eurowings at Stuttgart.
Disruptions are likely to terminal services, including baggage claim, check-in, and boarding during the strike hours.
