A 24-hour workers’ strike today paralyses almost all airline operations at seven of Germany’s largest airports. According to Deutsche Welle, some 2.340 flights had already been cancelled by midday on Friday. About 295.000 passengers are affected by the measure.
The protest by unionised workers has severely affected activity at Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC) airports, the two busiest terminals in the country. In addition, the strike coincides with the start of the Munich Security Conference, which takes place in the Bavarian city every year.
The Romanian embassy in Germany reported that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the countr, Bogdan Aurescu, was unable to board a cancelled flight and had to travel to Austria and overland to Munich. However, most visiting leaders and delegates were still able to arrive on board government aircraft.
Bremen (BRE), Dortmund (DTM), Hamburg (HAM), Hannover (HAJ) and Stuttgart (STR) airports are also experiencing complications. For its parte, Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER) was spared major disruptions.
Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, said it was forced to cancel more than 1.300 flights and completely suspend operations at Frankfurt and Munich. Yesterday, the failure of a telecommunications line paralysed the airline’s computer systems and caused massive rescheduling.
As usual in such cases, medical, military and government flights continue to operate normally.
Widespread strike
Ground staff, air traffic controllers and some public sector workers, such as airport firefighters, are on strike. The action is part of a larger action by Verdi, Germany’s second largest union by membership.
The union announced the strike last Wednesday, after declaring that negotiations for improved working conditions had not progressed as it intended. Its representatives have been pushing for a 10.5% wage increase, or at least 500 euros a month.
Workers threatened to provoke “chaos” over the coming summer if their demands are not met, according to Reuters.
“If nothing changes on pay, then another chaotic summer awaits us all, and we must prevent that as a matter of urgency”, Verdi representative Christine Behle told RBB-Inforadio today. Unions representing ground workers held multiple strike days during the 2022 summer season in many European countries.
In addition to the strike, the shortage of staff, in a context of rapidly recovering demand after the lifting of health restrictions, caused major service disruptions at the continent’s busiest airports. In this sense, one of the main objectives of the actors involved is to avoid a repetition of the situation next summer.
