Tijuana, Mexico.- The Tijuana International Airport registered chaos due to the cancellation of at least 184 flights, which caused the annoyance of users, lost suitcases and uncertainty for more than three days due to the massive strike of ground workers at the air terminal.
From December 23 to 26, the facilities became the bedroom and a hotbed of complaints from users who only saw on the screens the cancellations or delays of their trips to Colima, Sonora, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Puebla, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, Michoacán, Guanajuato, among other destinations.
The Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operator of the terminal, acknowledged that there were 184 flights affected, but attributed it to bad weather conditions.
“The effects that have been generated from Friday, December 23 to Monday, December 26 consist of 90 cancellations of arrivals and 94 departures,” it said in a statement.
However, a pilot from the airlines that operate in this region informed his passengers that the problem arose because workers decided not to operate due to lack of payments, which caused the collapse of more than 72 hours.
“It seems that they were not paid but we have nothing to do with them. All the airlines that provided ground service were affected, they are people who lower suitcases, who get on tractors that push the stairs towards behind, that they clean ramps, a job rarely seen but very relevant,” he said over a loudspeaker prior to takeoff.
“No one had that service, because apparently among themselves and for 3 days they did not go to work and with good reason because they were not paid.”
Among the airlines with the most complaints was Volaris.
Travelers posted images and videos on social networks about the chaos registered in the terminal, where they demanded the rescheduling of their flights and demanded that they be given immediate attention to food and lodging.
Some passengers even got off the aircraft and walked on the runways after spending several hours without moving.
