The smart one travels by train (even in Germany) – more than 1000 flights canceled due to warning strike Inflation in Germany has weakened in January

Airline passengers must have strong nerves this Thursday: the Verdi union started issuing aviation safety warnings late Wednesday evening.

Normal flight operations should not be possible until Friday. According to estimates from the airport association ADV, around 1,100 flights will be canceled or delayed across the country. An estimated 200,000 passengers are affected.

The consequences are particularly serious at the airports of Berlin, Hamburg and Stuttgart, where all takeoffs have been cancelled.

That’s what the strike is about

Employees at checkpoints at eleven major airports have been called to strike. If they stop working completely, no more outside passengers will come to the plane in the security area.

Trade unionist Özay Tarim said they wanted to send a clear signal. “We will now use employees to put pressure on employers so that we can finally make progress at the negotiating table.” The employee representative denounced the fact that a security company at Düsseldorf Airport had offered an additional compensation of 200 euros gross so that employees could still come to work despite the warning strike. He sees such a ‘strike bonus’ as a provocation. The problem should be resolved at the negotiating table instead of dragging it on with bonuses, he complained.

In the collective labor agreement negotiation dispute, Verdi demands 2.80 euros more wages per hour, higher functional bonuses and overtime bonuses from the first hour of overtime. The new collective labor agreement must have a term of twelve months. The requirements go too far for employers. The collective negotiations will continue in Berlin on February 6 and 7.

Cologne/Bonn

Cologne/Bonn kicked off. According to Verdi, the night shift of passenger control at Cologne/Bonn airport did not show up for work. Participation there is 100 percent, says the responsible union secretary Özay Tarim. “That was a successful start to the strike.”

About 80 percent of the flight movements planned in Cologne/Bonn on Thursday were canceled there, as emerged early on Thursday morning on the airport’s website. Verdi man Tarim expected this share to increase during the day.

Frankfurt

The Verdi union also began a warning strike for aviation safety at Germany’s largest airport, Frankfurt, early Thursday morning. As airport operator Fraport has announced, boarding planes in Frankfurt is not possible.

Therefore, numerous flights were cancelled. However, major customer Lufthansa had announced it would keep most of its program in Frankfurt, including long-haul flights.

Lufthansa had warned that there could be longer waiting times for passengers in the transit zone. To speed up the checks, passengers are asked to take as little hand luggage as possible.

Swiss

About 2,900 Swiss passengers are affected by the strike. With some exceptions, outbound flights to Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Stuttgart and Bremen could be operated from Switzerland, the airline told the Keystone-SDA news agency.

The return flights to Switzerland should operate without passengers, with the exception of two flights from Düsseldorf.

Normal flight operations should not be possible again until Friday. Then Verdi’s next warning strike is already planned in Germany – nationwide in local public transport.

Eurowings

Eurowings emphasizes to Watson that it is not a collective bargaining partner in this dispute, but rather the affected party.

(sda/dpa/anb)

Updates will follow continuously.