Airport state of alert to expire at midnight Saturday

The state of alert issued on December 3 after a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers shut down the country's airspace will expire at midnight on Saturday. Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba said Friday that the military officers that were assigned to the control towers during the crisis will no longer be supervising the controllers once the state of alert ends.

"The state of alert will end Saturday at 12 midnight because the objective has been met, which was to guarantee normal operations at all airports," he said.

The controllers, who have been protesting work shifts and pay, and the AENA airport authority have decided to allow an arbitrator ? former labor minister Manuel Pimentel ? to mediate the conflict. Rubalcaba said that the two sides agreed to meet until January 31, and Pimentel will have a February 28 deadline to issue his conclusions.

Last month's surprise walkout by controllers left some 600,000 passengers stranded during the extended five-day holiday weekend. Juan Lema, AENA president, said Thursday that all airports across the country were running smoothly.

It was the first time since democracy was restored that the government had invoked a state of alert.