The second warning strike by ground staff at Lufthansa has begun. The company expects hundreds of flight cancellations and more than 100,000 passengers to be affected. After Lufthansa employees in technology, logistics, freight and IT went on a warning strike on Monday evening, areas close to passengers also followed suit early on Tuesday morning. According to Verdi, the strike is scheduled to end on Wednesday at 7.10 a.m.
In addition to Lufthansa’s two most important locations, Frankfurt and Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart airports are also affected. Only ten to 20 percent of all flights should be able to take place. Munich Airport warns of significant restrictions early in the morning.
According to the operators, all 23 Lufthansa flights are canceled in Hamburg and Düsseldorf, and almost all in Cologne/Bonn. Airports that are not on strike are also affected: In Hanover and Bremen, all Lufthansa flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich have been canceled. During the first wave of warning strikes almost two weeks ago, around 900 flights were canceled and more than 100,000 passengers had to reschedule.
A Lufthansa spokesman explained that flights had already been canceled on Monday – because technicians had gone on strike, but also for organizational reasons, so that the planes would be in the right place after the strike ended on Wednesday morning and operations could be restarted quickly. Verdi negotiator Marvin Reschinsky said that from the union’s point of view, the flight cancellations on Monday were not necessary; During the first warning strike on February 7th, flight operations were possible without any problems the evening before.
With the new warning strike, Verdi wants to increase the pressure in the collective bargaining round for Lufthansa employees on the ground. The service union speaks of around 25,000 employees, the company around 20,000. The negotiations are scheduled to continue this Wednesday. In Munich, around 170 employees of “Deicing and Aircraft Towing at Munich Airport GmbH” (EFM) have also been called on a warning strike for the first time. Verdi wants to enforce a first collective agreement with this joint subsidiary of the airport and Lufthansa.
Rebooking counters are not staffed
Since the rebooking counters are not staffed due to the warning strike, Lufthansa advises passengers on canceled flights not to come to the airport. Rebookings are possible via the Lufthansa app or service center. The other airlines in the group are not affected by the warning strike: Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Swiss and the regional airline Lufthansa Cityline. You can largely fly regularly, as Lufthansa announced.
The pilots’ strike at the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover on Monday had almost no impact: it only had to cancel a single Mallorca flight in Frankfurt.