Air Europa pilots no longer want to fly to Venezuela

MADRID.- The pilots of Air Europa today asked the airline to suspend its flights to Venezuela, following the dangerous situations, this weekend, and will request an urgent meeting with Representatives from the Ministries of Development, Labor and Foreign Affairs to address the "safety and physical integrity" of workers in the face of high rates of violence in the country.

Air Europa decided that crews on its Madrid-Caracas itinerary would not spend the night in the Venezuelan capital for safety reasons, but would sleep in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), making this triangular route on Saturday. The bikers sued several men en route to their hotel in the Venezuelan capital.

At a press conference in Madrid, members of the union of airline pilots (Sepla) denounced the "feeling of helplessness" in which they find themselves and that endangers the physical integrity crews of the company, which follows violate Caracas.

The company, which currently makes three weekly flights to Caracas, agreed that the crews would stop spending the night in the city, but continue to travel to the country, pbading through Santo Domingo, a country where overnight stays will be performed. your crews.

The pilots, who denounce the situation of insecurity for a year and a half, ask Air Europa to stop flying, taking into account that the airport does not respect the minimum security measures or techniques.

"The airport currently has no electricity, there is no security check and it is very dangerous to fly under these conditions," said José Roncero, head of the union section of Sepp Air Europa .

The pilots of Air Europa understand the commercial interest of the company to continue to fly, but not to the limit to endanger the safety of workers. Some workers have already retired because of the stress and anxiety of recent events.

Faced with this situation, they ask the mediation of the ministries involved after the labor inspectorates of Madrid and the General Directorate of Labor have declared themselves incompetent. According to him, the institutions "are pbadive" in the situation of danger experienced by Spanish workers.

The crew can refuse to fly under these conditions but the company can punish them. As a result, pilots require government mediation to avoid this situation.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Sepla's Board of Directors will meet in which joint actions of several companies are not excluded. A complicated situation, according to the pilot union, because the answer is different in each company.

DPA Agency