Germany: Strikes Disrupt Air Traffic, Forcing Cancellation Of Flights

Hundreds of ground staff members in Germany went on strike over a salary dispute, effectively shutting down seven major hubs.

Flights are cancelled in and out of the German cities of Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen, Hamburg, Hannover, and Dortmund. Several foreign planes departed from Leipzig Airport this morning, but all local flights were cancelled, as the hubs seemed nearly as deserted as it had during the Covid pandemic.

There have been over 2,300 airline cancellations impacting over 300,000 people, practically wiping out air travel in the area. Nevertheless, cargo airports have confirmed that they would keep accepting aircraft carrying supplies to survivors of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Union and government employees' group Ver.di are pushing for a 10.5 percent raise in compensation.

The event occurred while the Munich Security Conference, an important meeting of international leaders and defence experts, was getting underway. Even though the arrival of VIPs was not anticipated to be delayed, delegates were nonetheless urged to use the train.

Yet, the strike has generated an angry reaction from some of Germany's most prominent businesspeople. This comes only two days after Frankfurt Airport was forced to postpone 200 flights due to construction work that disrupted Lufthansa's online check-in and boarding processes. Associations representing small and medium-sized businesses have criticised the move, calling it unacceptable and accusing unions of holding the nation hostage to further their own agenda.

At the same time, airline passengers in Germany are grown used to, and even resigned to, the fact that this type of disruption may occur. Flight delays and cancellations, as well as lengthy lines at check-in and security, caused chaos at airports last summer due to a lack of available personnel.

Ver.di has warned that unless wages and benefits are increased, these problems will persist and the airports around the nation would have another tumultuous summer.

Staffing constraints have forced Lufthansa to say it would have to scale down its summer schedule.

Workers in Germany are more likely to join in on a strike, hence picket lines are seldom seen. On the other hand, protests by employees are planned at a number of airports today.

The company has rejected their requests so far, but has not made an offer of their own; negotiations are scheduled to resume next week.

 

source: bbc.com