German airport group warns of “massive disruptions” as a result of the strike

• Strikes at seven German airports scheduled for Friday will cause “massive disruptions.
• The strike is expected to have a significant impact on domestic travel.
• The walkout also coincides with the start of the 59th Munich Security Conference (MSC).

Strikes at seven German airports scheduled for Friday will cause “massive disruptions,” the operator of the country’s busiest airport, Frankfurt, warned on Wednesday, setting the stage for another day of travel chaos caused by wage disputes.

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

“There will thus be massive disruptions to air traffic on Friday, February 17, 2023,” said Fraport (FRAG.DE), the operator of Frankfurt airport, which served more than 48 million passengers in 2022.

It advised passengers to avoid the airport on that particular day.

The strike is expected to have a significant impact on domestic travel, according to Verdi, which stated that it had provided advance notice of the strike so that passengers could find alternate transportation.

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

Munich Airport, Germany’s second-largest, announced that there would be no regular passenger flights on Friday, but that special flights, including those for the MSC, would be unaffected.

An MSC spokesperson, however, stated that the strike would have an impact on the conference schedule, and that organisers were in close contact with all parties to minimise the impact.

The union is currently negotiating with three groups of employees: ground service personnel, public sector officials, and aviation security personnel.

“There is still a catastrophic shortage of workers in ground services, as travellers clearly felt last summer,” Verdi board member Christine Behle said in a statement.

Since last year, airlines across Europe have faced labour unrest as the rapid recovery in tourism has resulted in staff shortages and soaring inflation has prompted employees to demand higher wages.

In Germany, a walkout organised by Verdi at Berlin airport, which is not directly affected by Friday’s strike, resulted in the cancellation of all flights on Jan. 25.

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