Warning strike at Lufthansa causes hundreds of flight cancellations

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Scoreboard in Munich: 27 hours of strike planned

Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa

At Lufthansa, the announced warning strike by ground staff began last night and is expected to last 27 hours. The Ver.di union has called on employees of various Lufthansa companies in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf to take industrial action. Frankfurt Airport, along with Munich, will be hit hardest by the strike. As a precautionary measure, the airline canceled between 80 and 90 percent of its approximately 1,000 scheduled flights for Wednesday.

The first flights were canceled on Tuesday evening. According to the airline, more than 100,000 passengers had to reschedule. At the other airports in Germany, connections to and from Frankfurt and Munich have generally been canceled.

If flights within Germany are canceled, customers can use their flight ticket to take the train. Under no circumstances should passengers of canceled flights come to the airport, warned Lufthansa. They couldn't expect any help there. “Due to the strike, the rebooking counters are unfortunately not staffed,” it said on the airline’s website. Free rebooking options are available via lufthansa.com, the customer app and the service center.

However, passengers from Lufthansa subsidiaries and external airlines are not or hardly affected. For example, the direct flight subsidiary Eurowings is planning to fly its entire program. At the hubs in Munich and Frankfurt, the skeleton crews should give priority to the flights of the foreign Lufthansa sister companies Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines in order to keep their networks functioning. Lufthansa customers will then also be rebooked on these flights.

Strike meetings are planned for Wednesday in Berlin and Frankfurt. The strike is scheduled to end on Thursday at 7:10 a.m. Lufthansa is still expecting some cancellations and delays on Thursday. Operations should have completely returned to normal by Friday.

Lufthansa criticized the industrial dispute as “completely incomprehensible in terms of length and extent.” According to Ver.di, the company has so far submitted a “completely inadequate offer”.

Flights are canceled here

Bavaria:

In Munich, 80 to 90 percent of the 400 planned Lufthansa flights are canceled. In Nuremberg, eight flights to and from Frankfurt were canceled.

Rhine-Main:

At Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt, 80 to 90 percent of the approximately 600 planned take-offs and landings for the Lufthansa core brand and the group's own feeder Air Dolomiti have been canceled. However, the other group companies and external airlines fly.

Baden-Württemberg:

In the state capital Stuttgart, six Lufthansa connections to Frankfurt and Munich are missing from the flight schedule. There were no changes to the three planned departures from Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt.

Hamburg:

All 23 planned Lufthansa departures at Hamburg Airport are canceled. This can be seen from the airport's online departure schedule. There are twelve flights to Munich and eleven to Frankfurt. In return, arrivals starting at these two Lufthansa hubs will also be cancelled. The approximately 30 flights from Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings to holiday destinations are all scheduled to start as planned.

Berlin/Brandenburg:

All 46 Lufthansa flights were canceled at the capital's BER airport. The original plan was to have 23 takeoffs and landings each. According to the website, all flights from the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings will be carried out. This also applies to the flights of the Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss.

North Rhine-Westphalia:

In Düsseldorf, 14 of the 15 planned Lufthansa connections to Munich and Frankfurt are canceled. Eurowings is planning all 52 departures for this purpose. Other airlines may only have to expect delays due to the strike at the Lufthansa pushback subsidiary Leos. On the Cologne Airport website this morning, five Munich connections were listed as canceled.

There is debate about this

In the ongoing collective bargaining dispute, Ver.di is demanding 12.5 percent more salary, but at least 500 euros per month for a term of twelve months. There will also be a group-wide uniform inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros. The next round of negotiations is planned for February 12th in Frankfurt am Main. Lufthansa points to past wage increases and has offered 13 percent more money and an inflation compensation bonus for a period of three years.

The Union criticized the strike by Lufthansa ground staff. “Of course, industrial action is a legitimate means in collective bargaining disputes,” said Union parliamentary group vice-president Ulrich Lange (CSU) to the AFP news agency. "But taking such drastic measures before the actual negotiations begin is difficult for me to understand."

First the train drivers' union GDL went on strike and thus paralyzed train traffic, now Ver.di is on strike and is thus significantly restricting air traffic. “Even if the mode of transport is different, it still affects millions of people who are dependent on functioning travel chains,” said Lange. He expects “that the collective bargaining parties will behave in a solution-oriented manner and have serious discussions with each other.”

mmq/dpa/AFP