Yesterday’s walkout by Spanish workers meant hundreds of flights had to be cancelled causing travel chaos for thousands. The 24-hour strike, a protest against the government’s austerity measures, is expected to continue to disrupt many people’s travel plans today.

Ryanair said it had to cancel the majority of its flights to Spain and scrap all internal flights. A spokesman for the airline said because the Spanish government had not been able to provide minimum service guarantees to non-Spanish airlines around 46,000 passengers had been affected by the cancellation of 308 flights.

Ryanair has assured all disrupted passengers that they will be allowed to rebook or be reimbursed. Fellow budget carrier easyJet announced it had cancelled around half of its scheduled flights to Spain. British Airways has also had to cancel some flights. BA said it had put larger planes onto its remaining services in order to make sure as many as people as possible made it to their destination. A spokesman for the airline warned that yesterday’s disruption could well have a knock on effect.

Within Spain other forms of transport have been disrupted by the strike. In Madrid, picketers were seen throwing eggs at buses. Spanish unions are railing against its socialist government’s labour laws, its widespread wage cuts and the change in the retirement age from 65 to 67.

Jose Louis Rodriguez Zapatero, the country’s Prime Minister, has implemented the austerity measures to try and reduce Spain’s enormous budget deficit and combat unemployment, which currently stands at 20 per cent.