Staff no-show hits Spain air travel - Europe - Al Jazeera English: "Spanish military has taken control of the nation's airspace after mass absentations by traffic controllers grounded planes and disrupted travel for around 250,000 people.
The controllers gave no warning before the walkout and started claiming sick leave and leaving their posts en masse around 1600 GMT on Friday, effectively closing the whole of Spanish airspace, except for Andalucia, the airport authority said.
About six hours after the nation descended into total travel chaos, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the deputy prime minister, announced that the defence ministry had 'taken control of air traffic in all the national territory'. He said the army would make all decisions on air traffic control, organisation, planning and supervision.
If enough controllers do not show up for work on Saturday to restore normal flight operations, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero plans to declare a national emergency that would force them to do so, Rubalcaba said.
Camilo Cela, head of the USCA air traffic controllers' union, told Reuters news agency that the workers were not on strike, but that they had had enough.
'This is a popular revolt,' he said."
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