More than 1000 flights canceled at German hubs

Frankfurt With a warning strike by ground staff, the Verdi union has largely paralyzed Lufthansa flight operations. The walkout began on Wednesday morning, as strike leader Marvin Reschinsky told the German Press Agency.

As a precaution, Lufthansa has canceled more than 1,000 flights at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs and fears the effects until Friday, the last day of school before the summer holidays in Bavaria. 134,000 passengers had to change their travel plans or cancel them altogether. At least 47 connections had already failed on Tuesday.

Lufthansa has advised the affected passengers against coming to the airports because most of the counters there are not manned anyway. In previous industrial action, the terminals had remained largely empty on the day of the strike itself.

According to Verdi, various Lufthansa companies at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs as well as in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hanover, Stuttgart and Cologne have been on strike since 3.45 a.m. on Wednesday.

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Very different groups of employees are called upon, such as counter staff, aircraft technicians and the drivers of the huge tow tractors that move aircraft to the right positions at the airport. The walkout is expected to last until 6 a.m. Thursday. Verdi has called for rallies at Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich airports.

Only the Lufthansa flights to and from Munich and Frankfurt are expected to be canceled at the decentralized airports. In addition to the 1023 canceled flights with LH flight numbers, there may be other connections from group companies such as Swiss, Austrian and Air Dolomiti, as they are handled at the hubs by Lufthansa ground staff. The non-strike direct flight subsidiary Eurowings, on the other hand, assumes that flight operations will be largely normal throughout the network.

Lufthansa and Verdi have only spoken in two rounds about the future salaries and working conditions of the approximately 20,000 ground workers. A third date is for the 3./4. Agreed in Frankfurt in August. Verdi had rejected a first offer as too low. The union demands 9.5 percent more salary, but at least 350 euros.

More: Lufthansa is threatened with relegation from the world league – a comment

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