Hundreds of flights cancelled. Germany prepares for a massive airport strike
Photo: Strike at Hanover Airport (gettyimages.com)
In Germany, a large-scale strike of aviation security sector workers is planned for February 1. This will lead to extensive delays and cancellations of flights.
The strike will affect 11 major airports in the country, reports spiegel.de.
The Verdi trade union has announced the strike of security service employees, which will take place at the airports of Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Hanover, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt, and Stuttgart. The strike is aimed at both passenger and cargo transportation.
The trade union is demanding a salary increase for the workers. Further discussions are planned for the following week.
Airport security employees are responsible for checking baggage, personnel, and passengers. If they do not go to work, airports cannot operate without them. Therefore, air traffic is likely to be paralyzed in a significant part of Germany.
At Hamburg Airport, all 126 scheduled departures on Thursday have been canceled, or they will be allowed to operate without passengers. Also, no passenger flights will depart from Berlin-Brandenburg Airport on Thursday. About 170 departures and arrivals were scheduled at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport on Thursday with nearly 50,000 passengers.
