After the flight chaos, operations will initially start normally

Lufthansa plane in Frankfurt

Operations are largely back to normal on Thursday morning.

(Photo: AP)

Frankfurt After the flight chaos at Lufthansa caused by a construction work breakdown in Frankfurt, the airline’s air traffic returned to normal on Thursday morning. This was announced by a spokeswoman for the airline in the morning. There are currently no known flight cancellations or delays.

According to the company, the Lufthansa problems on Wednesday were triggered by construction work on an S-Bahn line in Frankfurt am Main. According to Deutsche Telekom, four fiber optic cables were severed by an excavator on Tuesday.

Thousands of passengers with connections via the Frankfurt hub were affected by delays and cancellations as a result of the cable damage. Frankfurt Airport was closed for around three hours and reopened for landings early Wednesday afternoon.

But more turbulent days are coming for air passengers: The Verdi union has called for a day-long warning strike at most major airports in Germany. The background are several collective bargaining conflicts.

As early as Friday, the union wants to paralyze seven airports in Germany with the warning strike – with consequences for hundreds of thousands of passengers, as the airport association ADV fears. He expects that large parts of domestic and international air traffic will not take place. The airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart and Hamburg announced that they would cease regular passenger operations after the strike was announced on Friday.

“Unprecedented Escalation”

The ADV warned of “massive obstructions in air traffic”. The warning strike will lead to a good 2,340 flight cancellations in domestic and international air traffic, the association said. “More than 295,000 passengers become the plaything of the Verdi strike tactics,” criticized the ADV and spoke of an “unprecedented escalation”.

Frankfurt airport

Thousands of passengers with connections via the Frankfurt hub were affected by delays and cancellations on Wednesday as a result of the cable damage.

(Photo: dpa)

Regular passenger operations will not be possible at Germany’s largest airport, Frankfurt, on Friday due to the warning strike, the operating company Fraport said. Emergency flights are excluded. In Frankfurt alone, 1005 flight movements were planned for Friday.

>> Read here: IT chaos brings Lufthansa in need of explanation

The operating company spoke of 137,000 affected passengers. She called on passengers not to come to the airport in the first place and to get information from their airline. “Passengers who want to start their journey in Frankfurt cannot catch their flight.” Transfer traffic is also affected.

Lufthansa has to cancel around 1,200 flights in Frankfurt and Munich alone on Friday, a spokesman said. The number as of Wednesday evening will increase.

Munich Security Conference is working on a solution

With the warning strike, the employees want to emphasize their demands in the collective bargaining dispute between the federal and local governments. In addition to the public service, there are local negotiations for ground handling services and a nationwide round of collective bargaining for aviation security.

The warning strike takes place at the start of the Munich Security Conference, which is considered the world’s most important meeting of politicians and experts on security policy and lasts from Friday to Sunday. Munich Airport emphasized that flights for the Munich Security Conference are exempt from the suspension of regular passenger operations in Munich. The security conference is working on being able to guarantee the arrival of the participants, it said on Wednesday.

>> Read here: Verdi is calling for industrial action at almost all major airports on Friday

Verdi and the civil servants’ association dbb are demanding 10.5 percent more income in the collective bargaining dispute, but at least 500 euros more for the approximately 2.5 million federal and local employees. The term should be twelve months. The employers have rejected the claims. The second round of negotiations is scheduled for February 22nd and 23rd in Potsdam.

More: IT chaos brings Lufthansa in need of explanation

source site-14