LANZAROTE, Spain — November 7, 2026 — Flights at César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport (ACE) in the Canary Islands have been running late since the evening of November 4 as an open-ended strike by air traffic controllers at the private tower operator Saerco has started to cause real delays. The disruption carried on into Friday, November 6, and no end date has been set.
What happened
- The strike: controllers represented by the USCA and CCOO unions at Saerco, which runs the control tower at Lanzarote and eight other Spanish airports, have been on an open-ended strike since midnight on April 17, 2026. The dispute is over staffing, working conditions and schedules. USCA’s national spokesperson, Susana Romero, said the unions are “not asking for salary improvements.”
- When delays began to bite: delays built up from the evening of Wednesday, November 4, and continued into Friday, November 6.
- How big: Eurocontrol figures put the strike-related delay at Lanzarote at about 2,225 minutes in total, close to 5% of all delay on the European network at the time. That is a running total across many flights, not the delay on any one flight. Athens was the only other European airport reported with comparable delays.
- Staffing: the strike committee says the Lanzarote tower has 14 active controllers against the 22 it technically needs.
- Cancellations: no cancellation count has been published, and no full closure of the airport has been confirmed.
- End date: TBA. As of Friday, November 6, Saerco, Aena and Spain’s transport ministry had not commented, and no mediation or court date had been announced.
Minimum services set by Spain’s transport ministry (flights from Lanzarote)
| Type of flight | October | November |
|---|---|---|
| Inter-island flights | 76% | 73% |
| Mainland Spain and international routes over five hours | 57% | 53% |
Other airports with Saerco towers
The same strike covers Saerco’s other towers: Fuerteventura (FUE), La Palma (SPC), El Hierro (VDE), Jerez (XRY), Seville (SVQ), Vigo (VGO), A Coruña (LCG) and Madrid-Cuatro Vientos. Lanzarote is the one where serious delays were reported this week.
Also coming up: general strike on November 11
Spain faces a 24-hour general strike on Wednesday, November 11, including the Canary Islands. The government has set 90% minimum staffing for private security staff at airports and ports, but that figure does not mean 90% of flights will operate. Minimum services for Canary Islands flights had not been published in the reports found: TBA.
What it means for non-revs
- Build in slack on Lanzarote trips. Delays are running across many flights, and with no end date, plan as if they will continue into next week.
- Protect your onward connection. If you are connecting in Madrid, Barcelona or another hub after flying out of ACE, leave a long connection or plan to overnight. A late departure from Lanzarote can easily turn into a misconnect, and rebooking onto full flights is harder when you are on standby.
- Expect fuller flights. Minimum services allow airlines to operate only part of the schedule if the strike escalates (73% of inter-island and 53% of long mainland/international flights in November). If flights are cut, displaced passengers get rebooked first and standby seats will be scarce.
- Carry on. With delays and possible rebooking, a carry-on bag makes it far easier to switch flights.
- Consider the other islands. If your plans are flexible, Gran Canaria and Tenerife are not on the list of Saerco towers in the strike, and inter-island flights link them to Lanzarote.
- Avoid November 11 if you can. The general strike adds another layer of risk across Spain that day; check flight status the day before.
Sources
- Rus Tourism News — “Lanzarote Airport Flights Delayed as Air Traffic Control Strike Continues” (November 7, 2026) — rustourismnews.com
- AeroCorner — “Lanzarote Airport Flights Run Late as an Indefinite Controllers’ Strike Finally Bites” (November 6, 2026) — aerocorner.com
- CITA News — “Lanzarote airport delays: 2,225 minutes since 4 November” (November 6, 2026) — cita.news
- Canarian Weekly — “Canary Islands airports prepare for 11th November general strike” (updated November 7, 2026) — canarianweekly.com
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