Almost all inbound and outbound Lufthansa flights at its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich have been called off, the company said in a statement. Since dozens of flights were already cancelled on Tuesday, Lufthansa has had to cancel a total of 1,023 flights at airports in Frankfurt and Munich. The move affects an estimated 1,34,000 passengers.
The warning strike announced by trade union ver.di is having a massive operational impact in the middle of the peak travel season. Lufthansa will have to call off almost the entire flight program at its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich for Wednesday. Looking ahead to the coming weekend, the start of the vacation season in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, Lufthansa is working flat out to return flight operations to normal as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, the effects of the strike may still lead to individual flight cancellations or delays on Thursday and Friday.
In Frankfurt, a total of 678 flights will have to be canceled, including 32 already today (Tuesday) and 646 on Wednesday. This is expected to affect 92,000 passengers.
At the Munich hub, a total of 345 flights will have to be canceled, 15 of them already today (Tuesday) and 330 on Wednesday. It is expected that 42,000 passengers will be affected.
The airline in a statement said that passengers could not fly to Munich today as planned from the following cities: Bangkok, Singapore, Boston, Denver, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seoul (among many others).
A lot of passengers could also not board their flights to Frankfurt as planned. Connections from the following cities, among others, had to be canceled: Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Miami or New-Delhi.
“Passengers affected by cancellations will be informed immediately today and rebooked on alternative flights if possible. However, the capacities available for this are very limited," the airline said in a statement.
Michael Niggemann, Chief Human Resources Officer and Labor Director of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, says: "The early escalation of a previously constructive collective bargaining round is causing enormous damage. It affects our passengers in particular, who are impacted during the peak travel season. And it is putting an additional heavy strain on our employees in an already difficult phase for air traffic. In view of our high offer with very substantial pay increases over the next 12 months of more than 10 percent more in the pay groups up to 3,000 euros monthly basic pay and a 6 percent increase for a monthly basic pay of 6,500 euros, this so-called warning strike is in the middle of the peak summer travel season is simply no longer proportionate."
