Airports across Spain are trying to return to a semblance of normality today following an unscheduled strike by air traffic controllers over the weekend. The industrial action caused travel chaos for hundreds of thousands of passengers over one of Spain’s busiest times for holidaymakers; many of whom booked trips to take advantage of the two public holidays this week.

Among those experiencing disruption were some 20,000 British travellers. The strike action started on Friday at 5pm. The Spanish authorities have since called in the army to force controllers back to their stations. There have been reports that some workers were persuaded back to their jobs at gunpoint.

According to the country’s minister for the interior, the state of alert that has been imposed allows the authorities to place under arrest anyone refusing to do their job. Although there have been threats of more walkouts over the festive period, Alfredo Perez Rubalcab, the prime minister’s deputy, has said that measures will be put in place to prevent these from happening.

According to Aena, Spain’s airports operator, 4,000 flights were due to operate on Sunday. Budget carrier Ryanair said the strikes had caused it to cancel 450 flights on Saturday. Rivals easyJet said it had cancelled 100 scheduled services.

The dispute is a long running one over the number of hours controllers are being made to work. With and average salary of around £170,000 per year, it is unlikely that many who have had their holidays ruined will have an awful lot of sympathy with the controllers.