With a warning strike by ground staff, the Verdi union largely paralyzed Lufthansa’s flight operations on Wednesday morning. 134,000 passengers had to change or cancel their travel plans altogether. The airline had canceled more than 1,000 flights at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs as a precaution and feared the consequences until Friday. 19 AUA flights are also affected, including all connections between Vienna and Frankfurt and Munich.
At least 47 connections had already been lost on Tuesday. Lufthansa has advised the affected passengers not to come to the airports because most counters there are not manned anyway. In previous strikes, the terminals had remained largely empty on the day of the strike itself.
According to Verdi, several Lufthansa companies have been on strike at the hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, as well as in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hanover, Stuttgart and Cologne since 03:45 a.m. on Wednesday. Very different groups of employees are called upon, such as desk clerks, aircraft technicians and the drivers of the huge tractors that transport aircraft to the correct positions at the airport.
The strike is expected to last until 6 a.m. Thursday. Verdi has called for demonstrations at Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich airports.
At the decentralized airports, only Lufthansa flights to and from Munich and Frankfurt are expected to be cancelled. In addition to the 1023 canceled flights with LH flight numbers, there may be other connections from group carriers such as Swiss, Austrian and Air Dolomiti as these are handled at the hubs by Lufthansa ground staff. The non-strike direct flight subsidiary Eurowings, on the other hand, assumes that flight operations throughout the network will be largely normal.
2100 AUA passengers affected
As the AUA announced before the strike began, about 2,100 passengers from Lufthansa’s Austrian subsidiary have been affected. Notably, all 18 Austrian Airlines flights between Vienna and Frankfurt and Munich will be canceled on Wednesday and another flight on Thursday. Connections between Vienna and other flight destinations in Germany remain intact.
Union demands 9.5 percent salary increase
Lufthansa and Verdi have only discussed the future salaries and working conditions of the approximately 20,000 navigators in two rounds. A third date is for the 3./4. Agreed in Frankfurt in August. Verdi had rejected an initial offer as too low. The union demands 9.5 percent more salary, but at least 350 euros.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
