Over 1,000 Lufthansa flights cancelled as staff go on strikes

P: Lufthansa airline had to cancel more than 1,000 flights on Wednesday due to a one-day strike called by the airline's German ground staff which affected tens of thousands of passengers in Europe's latest travel crisis.

German news agency DPA reported that around 1,34,000 passengers had to change their travel plans or cancel altogether and added that at least 47 connections were cancelled on Tuesday.

The airline's main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich were the most affected, but flights were also cancelled in Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hannover, Stuttgart and Cologne.

Affected passengers were advised by the airline not to come to the airports as most of the counters were not staffed. Lufthansa spokesman Martin Leutke criticized the strikes as damaging.

"People who wanted to travel, who planned vacations for a long time, who waited for vacations, had these vacation dreams unfortunately postponed ... maybe even destroyed by the strike," Leutke told reporters in Frankfurt. "This strike is completely unnecessary, it is also completely exaggerated."

At Frankfurt airport, 725 of 1,160 scheduled flights were cancelled for the day, according to a spokesman for airport operator Fraport. Flights operated by other airlines, which are usually supported by Lufthansa ground staff, were also affected, DPA reported. Lufthansa itself had given the number of 646 strike-related flight cancellations for Wednesday.

The ver.di service workers' union announced the strike on Monday as it seeks to raise pressure on Lufthansa in negotiations on pay for about 20,000 employees of logistical, technical and cargo subsidiaries of the airline.

The walkout comes at a time when airports in Germany and across Europe already are seeing disruption and long lines for security checks because of staff shortages and soaring travel demand.

As inflation soars, strikes for higher pay by airport crews in France and Scandinavian Airlines pilots in Sweden, Norway and Denmark have deepened the chaos for travellers who have faced last-minute cancellations, lengthy delays, lost luggage or long waits for bags in airports across Europe.

Travel is booming this summer after two years of COVID-19 restrictions, swamping airlines and airports that don't have enough workers after pandemic-era layoffs. Airports like London's Heathrow and Amsterdam's Schiphol have limited daily flights or passenger numbers.

The Lufthansa strike began at 3:45 am local time on Wednesday and will end on Thursday morning. Such "warning strikes" are a common tactic in German labour negotiations, usually lasting from several hours to a day or two.

Ver.di is demanding a 9.5% pay rise this year. They say that an offer from Lufthansa earlier this month included an 18-month deal that fell well short of its demands.

With PTI inputs