Seven German airports will have strikes on Friday – 02/15/2023 – Market

Planned strikes at seven German airports on Friday will lead to “major disruptions”, the operator of the country’s biggest airport in Frankfurt warned on Wednesday, setting the stage for another day of travel disruptions caused by wage disputes.

German union Verdi on Wednesday called on workers at airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dortmund, Hanover and Bremen to strike for a 24-hour period, saying collective bargaining efforts had made little progress.

“On Friday, February 17, 2023, there will be major disruptions to air traffic,” said Fraport, operator of Frankfurt airport, which will handle more than 48 million passengers in 2022.

As a result, all functions enabling full flight operations would be suspended at the airport, it added in a statement, urging travelers to avoid the airport that day.

The strike is likely to affect domestic travel in particular, according to Verdi, which said it gave advance notice of the strike so passengers could find alternative options.

The shutdown also coincides with the start of the 59th Munich Security Conference (MSC), which brings hundreds of delegates to the Bavarian capital, including several global leaders.

Airlines across Europe have grappled with labor disputes since last year as a rapid recovery in tourism sparked staff shortages and soaring inflation prompted workers to demand higher wages.

Lufthansa system failure hits thousands of passengers

Two days before the serious incident took place, a failure in Lufthansa’s information technology system left thousands of passengers stranded at airports on Wednesday. The German airline said excavation work at a railway station in Frankfurt had severed several fiber optic cables used by the company.

The repairs will last until Wednesday afternoon, according to Lufthansa, which cited information received from Deutsche Telekom. The airline expects flight operations to stabilize by early evening.

Passengers said on social media that the glitch forced the company to organize boarding planes with paper and pen and that they were unable to digitally process luggage.

In a tweet, Lufthansa said: “As of this morning, Lufthansa Group airlines have been affected by an IT outage, caused by works in the Frankfurt region.”

According to the Frankfurt Airport website, reports of Lufthansa flight disruptions began around 7am local time and around 120 flights in and out of the airport were cancelled.

Frankfurt Airport has said it will cancel or divert all flights arriving at the terminal.

Air traffic controllers in Germany said the company’s planes could not take off from Frankfurt airport and were parked, meaning no spaces were available for other aircraft.