Air Europa and Iberia are considering creating a joint-venture to manage handling services at Barcelona's El Prat airport, a source at the smaller, privately-owned airline said on Monday.

"We are having conversations about this subject although, for the moment, there's nothing more than this," the source at Air Europa said.

Travel group Globalia, which owns Air Europa, won a license to provide handling services at Barcelona along with construction conglomerate FCC earlier this summer at the expense of Iberia.

The decision led to demonstrations at the airport by Iberia ground handling workers who feared for their jobs, causing major travel disruption.

According to newspaper ABC, Iberia wants Globalia to sub-contract the work to its existing operation, thereby minimizing the impact on Iberia staff and avoiding another dispute.

An Iberia spokesman declined to comment on the report, but one trader at brokerage BPI said the report sounded credible as it would allow the Spanish flag carrier to not only avoid future disputes but also offer ground services to its subsidiaries Air Nostrum and Clickair.