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More than 1,000 Lufthansa flights were canceled on Wednesday as a one-day strike by the airline’s German ground staff affected tens of thousands of customers in the latest travel chaos in Europe.
The strike at Lufthansa began at 3.45am on Wednesday and was expected to end at 6am on Thursday.
About 134,000 passengers were forced to change or cancel their travel plans. At least 47 connections were canceled on Tuesday, German news agency DPA reported.
Flights to Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hanover, Stuttgart and Cologne as well as Lufthansa’s main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich have been cancelled.
The airline has urged concerned travelers not to go to airports, saying most service counters will be closed. Airport terminals were unusually quiet this morning, although customers lined up at ticket counters to get replacements for later canceled flights, the DP reported.
Due to the strike, many travelers had their connecting flights to Germany from other countries cancelled.
A representative of airport operator Freiport said 725 of the 1,160 scheduled flights at Frankfurt Airport had been cancelled.. Flights by other airlines, usually served by Lufthansa’s ground crew, were also affected, Dipa said.
Flights under Lufthansa Group subsidiaries such as Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Italy’s Air Dolomiti were also cancelled. In addition, planes operated by Croatian Airlines, United Airlines, Air Canada and Polish Airlines LOT were also unable to take off, DPA said.
The Verdi Service union began the strike on Monday to pressure Lufthansa over collective bargaining for the airline’s nearly 20,000 workers in logistics, technical and cargo departments.
“Lufthansa did not make enough offers in the first two rounds,” union spokesman Dennis Dake said on Wednesday.
“Now is the time for workers to express their views before the third round of negotiations,” Dake said. “This is a ‘warning sign,’ and the consequences will be seen. Let’s hope Lufthansa doesn’t offend anyone else in the future.
Lufthansa spokesman Martin Lüttke said the attack was taking its toll.
“People who want to travel, people who have long planned vacations, people who are waiting for vacations, these vacation dreams have unfortunately been postponed … maybe destroyed by the strike,” Lüttke told reporters in Frankfurt. “This strike is completely unnecessary. It is also completely exaggerated.
Airports in Germany and across Europe are facing disruptions and long queues at security checkpoints due to staff shortages and increased passenger demand.
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