Another summer, and another hoard of northern European tourists will be heading off south. Time then for Spain's troubled airline to make some money - or not.

With exquisite timing, Iberia's infallibly unreliable pilots are on strike again. This year of all years, one would have thought they could have relented, but no, undaunted by the miserable valuation and public hammering the firm got at its April IPO, along with Iberia's steadily declining stock price ever since, the pilots' terms are more aggressive than ever.