770 take-offs and landings canceled at Frankfurt Airport today

770 take-offs and landings canceled today at Frankfurt Airport
770 take-offs and landings canceled today at Frankfurt Airport
Avatar of Harry Johnson
Written by Harry Johnson

Strike by security personnel at Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany’s largest airport, began today at 2AM local time, when staff for cargo and passenger controls stopped working.

There were over 770 take-offs and landings scheduled for Tuesday that had to be canceled due to the walkout.

Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport warned all travelers scheduled to board a flight in Frankfurt on Tuesday to not even arrive at the airport, due to a ‘labor action’ organized by the trade union Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (ver.di).

“The short-term worker’s activity means a horror scenario for the passengers, who have no way of preparing for the flight cancellations,” said Ralph Beisel, the general manager of the Working Group of German Airports.

Air traffic was disrupted across Germany today, as security workers in several major airports, including Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart went on strike demanding higher wages and better working conditions.

Employees in Stuttgart, Hamburg and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden abandoned their posts on Tuesday, while in Munich, Germany’s second-largest airport, staff have been on strike since Monday. Other airports including Berlin, Dusseldorf and Hannover canceled a whole range of flights on Monday due to strikes there.

The nationwide strikes were part of a dispute between a German trade union Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (ver.di) and the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies. The union is negotiating a deal involving 25,000 security staff nationwide, demanding their wages are increased by at least 1 euro per hour.

“The work of the aviation security forces must remain financially attractive so that the urgently needed specialists can be recruited. At least 150 specialists are currently needed in Frankfurt in order to be able to check passengers in a reasonable time and to avoid long queues. Therefore, the wage must be increased by at least 1 euro. The employer offer is far below what the employees demand,” said Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (ver.di) negotiator Wolfgang Pieper on the union’s official website. 

Global flight network and supply chains are already facing difficulties due to the closure of airspace by the EU countries for all Russian aircraft and Russia closing its airspace due to the Western sanctions that followed Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Transport between Europe and Asian destinations like Japan, South Korea and China was affected the most, with several airlines including Lufthansa, Air France KLM, Finnair and Virgin Atlantic having canceled North Asian cargo flights due to the closed skies over Siberia in early March and other carriers have been re-routed.

About the author

Avatar of Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson has been the assignment editor for eTurboNews for mroe than 20 years. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is originally from Europe. He enjoys writing and covering the news.

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