One of Europe's biggest airlines is cancelling flights following a scrap between labor unions and several German airports.
Lufthansa, which is the tenth biggest airline in terms of passengers carried, cancelled over 1,300 flights on Friday alone after the Verdi labor group called for a walkout in seven key airports, including Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dortmund, Hannover and Bremen.
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Lufthansa Strikes Affect Hundreds of Thousands of Passengers
The strikers, who are demanding pay rises of 10.5% due to inflation, are supposed to be out all day Friday and into early Saturday morning. The strike includes ground crew and security employees, which is likely to disrupt thousands of flights.
The Verdi United Services Trade Union, commonly called Ver.Di (and Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft in German), is one of Germany's most powerful and the second largest in the country with just under 2 million members. Formed in 2001, it comprises a group of unions that previously represented bank, media, airline, trade, and postal workers.
Over 295,000 passengers were affected as of Friday morning. Some 2,340 flights have been canceled as of this writing.
"We regret the enormous impact of this warning strike which is being carried out at the expense of our passengers. We are not a party to the collective bargaining and have no influence on it – nevertheless, our guests and we are massively affected. More than 1,300 flight cancellations for Lufthansa Group airlines alone show once again how vulnerable and fragile the air transport system is to strike activity," Chief Officer Human Resources & Infrastructure of Lufthansa Group Michael Niggemann said.
The airline said it was "offering alternative connections and rebooking on rail," for some passengers "where possible."
Regular service and operations are expected to return as early as Saturday, the airline said.
