This means that many airlines will be left with no staff on the ground at the three airports used by Irish holidaymakers to check in baggage and passengers

All ground staff and baggage handlers at Malaga, Alicante and Palma airports are planning a series of industrial actions over the upcoming holiday period and it will cause chaos, long flight delays and possibly even cancellations

Thousands of Irish holidaymakers heading to Spain are facing Easter holiday chaos.

All ground staff and baggage handlers at Malaga, Alicante and Palma airports are planning a series of industrial actions over the upcoming holiday period and it will cause chaos, long flight delays and possibly even cancellations.

The staff are threatening to walk out on March 27 and will then continue with scheduled walk-outs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the dispute over pay is resolved.

They say they will stop working between 5am to 7am, 11am to 5pm and again from 10pm to midnight.

View of the outside of the airport terminal of Pablo Picasso Malaga airport

This means that many airlines will be left with no staff on the ground at the three airports used by Irish holidaymakers to check in baggage and passengers.

The baggage handlers themselves are plotting separate 24-hour strikes between March 28 and March 29 next week and over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend from April 2 to April 6.

Several unions are involved in the dispute and it also includes workers at Groundforce which handles ground airport operations for many of the airlines operating in Spain.

The Spanish authorities are warning that millions of passengers heading to the Costas and the Canaries over Easter week will be affected unless a last-minute resolution can be found.

There are 12 airports affected – Madrid-Barajas, Malaga, Alicante-Elche, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona-El Prat, Bilbao, Valencia, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Ibiza.

The Easter holiday period is one of the busiest of the year with tens of thousands of Irish holidaymakers trying to escape to the sun while the kids are off from school.

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.