Spanish air space closed except in Andalucia: operator

Air traffic controllers called in sick en masse Friday and closed down airspace over the whole of Spain except the southern region of Andalucia, airport operator AENA said.

“Ninety percent of controllers abandoned their work posts,” resulting in the mass shutdown, said an AENA spokesman.

There were just three air traffic controllers at Madrid’s Barajas airport to cope with landing aircraft, the spokesman said.

AENA, the European air safety authority Eurocontrol and US counterpart the Federal Aviation Administration would hold a conference shortly to decide how to handle transatlantic flights, he said.