Little faith in Vueling

Planes and crews from the Vueling airline will today again take to the air, despite a situation of chaos and uncertainty continuing in El Prat due to a series of unexpected cancellations and delays. Yesterday, the queues and confusion were evident even after the meeting held in the morning between the Catalan ministers, Josep Rull and Jordi Baiget, with three of the company's directors, Fernando Estrada, David García and Silvia Estivill, in which the latter were unable to guarantee a return to normal service.

The same lack of confidence was evident in another meeting held at the same time in Madrid between the development minister, Ana Pastor, and Vueling president, Javier Sánchez-Prieto, in which the central government demanded a summer contingency plan from the company.

Questioned by journalists on the state of Vueling's service from today, Rull tactfully said that “there was no clear response to the question of whether normality could be assured.” The Catalan government has now set up a committee involving the Generalitat and Vueling that will remain active during the summer and that will meet weekly.

“We are very concerned about what might happen between July 15 and August 15, which is the period of maximum activity in the airport,” warned Rull. Meanwhile, the Catalan business minister, Jordi Baiget, was blunt in stating that the Catalan government “demands answers”.

Vueling sales director, David Garcia, put the disruption down to the air controllers strike that took place on June 28, which obliged the company to honour cancellations caused by the protest, involving some 8,000 passengers.