Iberia Airlines has opened an investigation into why more than 300 of its flights have recently been delayed. They suspect that their pilots may be on a “go slow” without bothering to tell anyone, in protest at Iberia refusing to hire more pilots over the Christmas period.
The Iberia Union claims that the delays are caused by understaffing, a claim that Iberia rejects, saying that with the slowdown and cancellation of flights they have, proportionally, more staff than normal for the time of year; and believes that pilots are “conspiring” to slow down flights in order to up recruitment.
Iberia is, of course, a national airline (currently thinking about merging with BA) that is infamous for nepotism and cronyism – the old joke runs “When does Iberia recruit new pilots? On Take Your Son To Work day!”