A major one-day strike has brought much of the air travel across Germany to a standstill, leading to widespread flight cancellations at 13 of the country's key airports, including major hubs such as Frankfurt and Munich.
The 24-hour walkout, which began at midnight, involves public-sector workers, ground staff, and security personnel, effectively shutting down operations at most German airports.
Frankfurt Airport, one of Europe's busiest, saw a near-total shutdown, with 1,054 out of 1,116 scheduled flights cancelled, according to German news agency dpa.
Berlin Airport cancelled all regular departures and arrivals, while Hamburg Airport confirmed no departures were possible.
Cologne/Bonn Airport suspended all regular passenger services, and Munich Airport warned travellers to anticipate a "greatly reduced flight schedule." The strike's impact rippled across the country, affecting travellers and businesses alike.
The ver.di service workers union’s strike also targeted the Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Berlin, Duesseldorf, Dortmund, Cologne/Bonn, Leipzig/Halle, Stuttgart and Munich airports.
At the smaller Weeze and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airports, only security workers were called out.
The union announced the strike on Friday. But at Hamburg Airport, it added a short-notice walkout on Sunday to the strike on Monday, arguing that it must ensure the measure was effective.
The so-called “warning strike,” a common tactic in German wage negotiations, relates to two separate pay disputes: negotiations on a new pay and conditions contract for airport security workers, and a wider dispute over pay for employees of federal and municipal governments.
The latter already has led to walkouts at Cologne/Bonn, Duesseldorf, Hamburg and Munich airports.
Pay talks in that dispute are due to resume on Friday, while the next round of talks for airport security workers is expected to start on 26 March.
