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Highlands and Islands airports face air traffic control strike action

Flights using Highlands and Islands airports in Scotland face disruption due to a strike by air traffic controllers from next week.

Seven airports will also be shut for 24 hours on April 26 as a result of the pay dispute.

The affected airports are:

  • Benbecula
  • Dundee
  • Inverness
  • Kirkwall
  • Stornoway
  • Sumburgh
  • Wick John O’Groats

The industrial action is being taken by the Prospect union in support of a double-digit wage increase in 2018-19 or a long-term commitment to above inflation pay awards.

However, Highlands and Islands Airports Limited countered that evidence provided in analysis of air traffic controller pay at non-Hial airports jointly undertook with Prospect did not support a double digit pay award.

Hial has scheduled a meeting with Prospect and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service on April 9 in a bid to reach a “mutually agreeable solution” to resolve the pay dispute.

But the airports operator said: “As this date falls after 1 April 2019, the work to rule by air traffic control officers due to start on that day will come into effect.

“We anticipate there will be some disruption as a result of the work to rule and apologise in advance for the inconvenience this may cause.

“We continue to work closely with our airlines to minimise potential disruption wherever possible.

 

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