Tens of thousands of passengers have to reschedule: Due to warning strikes by aviation security staff at several airports, the industry association ADV expects more than 580 flight cancellations on Thursday. Strikes have now also been announced for Friday.
Around 90,000 passengers have to prepare for flight cancellations and delays due to the announced all-day warning strike by aviation security staff on Thursday. The airport association ADV is currently expecting more than 580 canceled connections.
The ver.di union has called for the warning strike. The strike will gradually affect Hamburg, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe/Baden Baden, Cologne and Berlin airports over the course of Thursday night.
Ver.di has also called for further warning strikes by aviation security staff on Friday. According to the union, it will then gradually affect Hanover, Dortmund, Weeze, Dresden and Leipzig airports. Hanover Airport announced that no departures would therefore be possible on Friday from midnight to 12 p.m. Arrivals are not affected.
Cabin crew strikes in Munich
At Munich Airport today, the UFO cabin union is continuing its strike at Lufthansa that began on Tuesday in Frankfurt am Main until 11 p.m. According to the airline’s estimates, 400 flights with 50,000 passengers will not be able to take off there.
“An entire country is being cut off from international air traffic. The unions have lost all measure,” said ADV general manager Ralph Beisel, criticizing the event. “Airports are part of critical infrastructure and must be protected from strike escalations.” The ADV recommends all travelers to check with their respective airline whether the flight is taking place and to allow sufficient time on site.
Negotiations continue
Negotiations with ver.di for the approximately 25,000 ground workers are scheduled to continue on Wednesday and Thursday despite the strike. The union is demanding 12.5 percent more money per month for a term of one year, while the company has offered ten percent for a term of 28 months. The UFO union, in turn, is essentially demanding 15 percent more money for the approximately 18,000 cabin employees at Lufthansa and the almost 1,000 employees at Cityline over a contract period of one and a half years.
According to its own information, Lufthansa has offered a salary increase of six percent for August 2024 and a further 3.25 percent for August 2025 over a period of two years. In addition, cabin employees should receive an inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros in April 2024.
Federal association criticized Strike volume
The number of strikes in aviation is particularly high this year, said the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL). There are currently 16 waves of strikes in half a dozen collective bargaining areas. The federal association criticized that the number of strikes this year already exceeds the level of previous years. The extent of the strikes is reaching a new dimension.
Rules of procedure are necessary, said Managing Director Matthias von Randow. “According to our constitution, the right to strike is part of the collective bargaining autonomy of our democratic and social market economy,” said Randow. “But in order to be able to maintain tariff autonomy and mobility in Germany, procedural rules will be needed in public transport in the future.” Before traffic comes to a standstill due to strikes, there should at least be an attempt at mediation in the area of critical transport infrastructure in the future.
Strikes also at the railways
The unions are currently paralyzing traffic not only in the air, but there are also more and more frequent cancellations on the rails due to strikes. It was only early in the morning that the GDL train drivers’ union ended its sixth strike in the ongoing wage dispute with the railway, which once again resulted in significant restrictions for passengers and the group’s industrial customers. The railway tried until the very end to legally prevent the strike – in the end without success.