Almost 10,000 employees of the airport management company Aena are due to take 22 days of strike action this year, including some days that coincide with public holidays (read article in Castilian here, La Vanguardia). The strikes, called in protest at the planned partial privatisation of Aena, will start at Easter and run at least until the end of August, threatening the flight plans of thousands of Spaniards and foreign travellers. The action was confirmed yesterday by the main trade unions and means that reservations already made for the days that the workers will be on strike are now at threat. Discussions will take place over the coming weeks between the unions and the Spanish public works ministry in an attempt to avert the strikes, which could affect up to 71 percent of Aena staff, that's to say 9,600 of the 13,500 people who work for the company, which runs airports across Spain. Air traffic controllers won't be taking part in the strikes and some temporary workers will have completed their contracts by the time the strikes occur, which explains why not all those working for Aena will be participating. Those who will be striking include administrators, airport firefighters and maintenance workers. The proposed stoppage dates include 20th-21st and 24th-25th and 30th April; 13th, 20th and 23rd June; 1st, 15th and 31st of both July and August [source: El Periodico].