Travellers passing through Barcelona-El Prat can finally expect normal baggage and turnaround services after the CGT union on 21 October 2026 cancelled its indefinite strike at Groundforce, the handling agent for some 20 airlines including Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and United. The walk-out, which began on 4 August, had led to more than 270 flight cancellations, 6 000 mis-routed bags and repeated last-minute crew-duty infringements that particularly hurt conference traffic to Catalonia. Under the agreement signed on Tuesday night, Groundforce pledged to convert 320 temporary contracts into permanent roles, increase head-count on the late-night wave and open a joint health-and-safety committee. In exchange, CGT suspended all strike notices but vowed to continue demonstrations over the dismissal of three workers accused of blocking aircraft stands. The settlement follows mediation by Catalonia’s labour department and coincides with the airport’s push to handle record winter‐schedule movements. For mobility managers the deal removes a major operational risk: El Prat is Spain’s second-busiest business gateway and a key connection point for Latin-American and North-African assignees. Companies that had been re-routing executives through Madrid or Valencia to avoid baggage chaos can resume direct itineraries, saving both time and cost. Airlines have already reinstated 42 weekly frequencies that had been cut to build buffer time into ground operations. Travellers should nevertheless build in extra margin this week, as Groundforce works through residual bag backlogs and retrains temporary staff brought in under minimum-service rules. Corporate travel policies may also need updating to reflect the new compensation ceilings under Spain’s reformed Passenger Rights statute, which came into force on 1 October and raises payouts for baggage delays beyond 72 hours. Looking ahead, the episode highlights the growing labour-relations volatility at Spanish airports: parallel disputes with SATE baggage-system technicians in Madrid and AENA security contractors in Málaga remain unresolved. Employers with high travel volumes into Spain are advised to subscribe to real-time strike trackers and to keep flexible rebooking budgets for Q4.
Source: The Local ES
