North Rhine-Westphalia: Lufthansa strike: Long queues at Düsseldorf Airport

Status: 07/27/2022 07:36 a.m

–
–
–

There has been a nationwide strike at Lufthansa since 3:45 a.m. The airport ground staff are supposed to stop working all day long. In NRW, Düsseldorf Airport is particularly affected.

–

–
–

–

The Verdi union is calling for a nationwide strike until Thursday at 6 a.m. At the airport Düsseldorf the queues at the counters and security checkpoints are already long early on Wednesday morning. Many passengers came very early to be on the safe side. So far, however, there has been no great chaos. 16 Lufthansa flights were canceled during the day. It is still unclear to what extent other airlines are affected by the strike. The situation at the hubs in Frankfurt and Munich appears to be more critical: a total of 1,000 flights were canceled there.

Empty Lufthansa counters at Dusseldorf Airport

Image: WDR/Thomas Kalus

–
–

Düsseldorf Airport had already expected “serious impairments” in advance. According to Verdi, almost 150 employees work in the affected area. A total of over 430 flight movements with a total of around 57,000 passengers are planned for Wednesday in Düsseldorf. Cologne/Bonn Airport, on the other hand, expects hardly any effects.

Airplane tractors stand still

The Lufthansa subsidiary Leos is also affected by the strike. In Düsseldorf, the company takes on 70 to 80 percent of the so-called push-backs – the reversing of aircraft from the parking position with the help of special aircraft tow tractors.

In addition to Lufthansa or its subsidiary Eurowings, the company also works for other airlines. The strike could also affect other airlines.

Eurowings apparently not affected

Eurowings, on the other hand, explained that so far it has been assumed that flight operations will be largely normal. The airline announced on Tuesday that sufficient replacement capacity had been provided by other service providers for the push-backs. However, passengers should keep themselves informed about the status of their flight at all times.

Stagnant collective bargaining

The background to the strike is the faltering wage negotiations. In the second round of negotiations on July 13, Lufthansa submitted an initial tariff offer. Verdi had criticized it as insufficient and rejected it. The union demands a wage increase of 9.5 percent or at least 350 euros more per month for the employees of Lufthansa and its subsidiaries. On August 3rd and 4th, Lufthansa and Verdi want to meet for a third round of negotiations.

Those: wdr.de

messages out