BERLIN — More than 1,000 Lufthansa flights were canceled on Wednesday due to a one-day strike by Lufthansa’s German ground staff, affecting tens of thousands of passengers in the latest travel disruption to hit Europe.
About 134,000 passengers had to change or cancel their travel plans. At least 47 connections were canceled on Tuesday, German news agency dpa reported.
Lufthansa’s main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich were the most affected, but flights were also canceled in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hannover, Stuttgart and Cologne.
The airline advised affected passengers not to go to the airport as most service counters were unstaffed. Airport terminals were unusually empty early in the morning, but people were queuing at ticket counters looking for replacement tickets for canceled flights, the DPA reported.
Many of the stranded passengers arrived in Germany from abroad only to find that their connecting flights had been grounded due to the strike.
At Frankfurt Airport, 725 of the 1,160 scheduled flights were canceled that day, according to a spokeswoman for airport operator Fraport. The DPA reports that flights operated by other airlines, which are normally supported by Lufthansa ground staff, were also affected.
Flights operated by Lufthansa group companies such as Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Italian regional carrier Air Dolomiti have also been cancelled. In addition, Croatia Airlines, United Airlines, Air He Canada, and his LOT of aircraft in Poland failed to take off, he dpa reported.
The ver.di service union announced a strike on Monday in an attempt to put pressure on Lufthansa in wage negotiations for some 20,000 employees in the airline’s logistics, technology and cargo divisions.
“Lufthansa did not make a suitable offer in the first two rounds of negotiations,” union spokesman Dennis Dacke said on Wednesday.
“Before the third round of negotiations, it’s time for employees to voice their opinions,” said Dacke. “This is a ‘warning strike’ and the consequences are visible. We hope Lufthansa will not provoke another attack in the future.”
Lufthansa spokesman Martin Leutke criticized the strike as harmful.
“People who wanted to travel, who had long planned and longed for a vacation, had unfortunately postponed their vacation dream… perhaps destroyed by the strike,” Leutke told reporters in Frankfurt. said. “This attack is completely unnecessary and completely exaggerated.”
Staff shortages and surges in travel demand at airports in Germany and across Europe were already causing chaos and long lines at security checks.
Amid soaring inflation, strikes by airport crews demanding higher wages in France and strikes by Scandinavian Airlines pilots in Sweden, Norway and Denmark deepen turmoil. Travelers face last-minute cancellations, lengthy delays, lost bags and long waits for bags at airports across Europe.
After two years of COVID-19 restrictions, travel is booming this summer, with airlines and airports flooded without enough workers after pandemic-era layoffs. Airports such as Heathrow in London and Schiphol in Amsterdam are limiting the number of flights and passengers each day.
The Lufthansa strike will begin at 3:45 am local time on Wednesday and is scheduled to end at 6:00 am on Thursday.
Ver.di is demanding a 9.5 per cent wage increase this year and says earlier this month Lufthansa made an offer that included an 18-month contract but fell well short of what it asked for.
