Tens of thousands of passengers once again have to prepare for flight cancellations and delays due to warning strikes at four German airports. At the two largest airports in North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn, as well as in Stuttgart, the all-day warning strikes began on Friday night, as Verdi spokesmen confirmed. In Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, the employees stopped work at around 5 a.m. A total of 681 flights are said to be cancelled. Around 89,000 passengers are affected.
The Verdi union has called for a warning strike. The background is negotiations on payment in the aviation security industry and the wage dispute in the public sector. On Monday, the employees at the airports in Hamburg, Hanover and at the capital airport Berlin-Brandenburg BER had already stopped working.
At Cologne/Bonn Airport, the warning strike began at 10 p.m. on Thursday evening, and in Düsseldorf the employees stopped working at 3 a.m. on Friday, said a Verdi spokesman. According to the union, around 500 employees are on strike in Düsseldorf alone. The union called on workers in passenger screening, personnel, goods and cargo screening and public sector workers to walk out. “We have a good participation, the mood is determined,” said the Verdi spokesman.
According to preliminary information from the airport, two thirds of the flights at Cologne/Bonn Airport are expected to be canceled on Friday. About 100 of the originally planned 148 take-offs and landings of passenger aircraft could not take place. In addition, there could be further cancellations or diversions of flights. Düsseldorf Airport wants to maintain emergency operations. According to an airport spokesman, a large part of the originally planned 391 take-offs and landings will probably fail.
There should also be no regular travel operations at Stuttgart Airport on Friday. According to the airport, only security landings and medical and military flights could be carried out, it said. 169 flight movements were planned, and around 20,000 passengers were affected by the warning strike. According to the union, around 2,000 employees in Stuttgart were called on to go on warning strikes.
Despite the call for a strike, there will be take-offs and landings at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport. However, there could be longer waiting times at the security checks, said managing director Uwe Kotzan. Passengers should allow more time and check their flight status before travelling.
