News / Germany

Fresh round of strikes lead to cancellation of flights at four German airports

Friday, 17 March 2023 11:25 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 17 March 2023 11:28 AM ]

Airport security and ground handling workers are also protesting staffing problems following the post-pandemic travel rebound. (Photo by Reuters)

In the latest round of industrial action to disrupt travel plans, strikes at four German airports led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Friday.

The latest round of strikes on Friday, described by the German union Verdi as “warning strikes”, brought to halt airports in Dusseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart and Baden-Baden over pay and working conditions and resulted in the cancellation of at least 144 flights.

"No take-offs and landings are possible all day due to the Verdi strike," Stuttgart Airport said in a statement, calling on passengers not to travel to the airport.

Dusseldorf Airport said earlier in the week it was working on a "significantly reduced flight schedule" from what it originally had of 368 take-offs and landings for Friday.

Earlier this week, Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg airports canceled all commercial flights because of the walkouts. The one-day walkout affected 27,000 travelers, and the airport had to cancel around 200 flights.

With the day-by-day worsening cost of living crisis in Europe, workers have been long demanding a hike in their wages, so that they could bear with daily-life necessities as inflation continues to soar.

Countries including France, Britain and Spain have also been severely affected because of a series of massive strikes impacting various sectors and services, as they continuously struggle with rising energy and food prices.

Since the corona pandemic eased, which destabilized world economies; the European economies have been eyeing a big break to recover from the severe damage that the pandemic caused to the European markets.

Meanwhile, the ongoing Ukraine war has also completely disabled European economies, especially hitting the energy sector due to anti-Russia sanctions.

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