GERMANY: German airline Lufthansa cancels flights due to second round of strikes of cabin crews in Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich

Record ID: 340876

  • Title: GERMANY: German airline Lufthansa cancels flights due to second round of strikes of cabin crews in Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich
  • Date: 4th September 2012
  • Summary: PASSENGERS WAITING INSIDE TERMINAL
  • Embargoed: 19th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Business,Employment,Politics,Travel / Tourism,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVA7Y9FDR6ZJZLQXUB199CPRLLJ6
  • Story Text: Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, said it was cancelling 190 flights at its main Frankfurt airport on Tuesday (September 4) due to a second round of strikes by cabin crew in a row over pay and conditions. Many passengers took to trains to reach their destinations within Europe.
    Lufthansa said only a handful of long-distance flights would be impacted, while around half of short and medium-distance flights were cancelled.
    The airline initially expected only 64 cancellations in the first eight-hour strike on Friday but ended up scrapping almost 200 flights, leaving 26,000 passengers stranded and costing it millions of euros.
    Frankfurt airport, Germany's busiest, was also closed to inbound flights from Europe for several hours due to congestion.
    The German cabin crew union, UFO, said its workers would strike in Frankfurt from 0400-1200 GMT and in Berlin's Tegel airport from 0300-1100 GMT.
    This morning it was calling on its members working at Lufthansa to go on strike in Munich from 1100-2000 GMT. "We know that what we are doing here hurts and we do not like doing it" said UFO spokesman Sascha Berger in Frankfurt. "We are standing here for a sad reason. But it is working, it can be felt and slowly but surely the Lufthansa managers should realise that we mean business."
    Lufthansa did not give an estimate for how many flights would be affected in Berlin and Munich.
    The union wants a 5 percent pay increase and guarantees against outsourcing and the use of temporary workers.
    Lufthansa is in the midst of a 1.5 billion euro ($1.9 billion) cost-cutting programme to combat rising fuel costs and competition from low-cost and Gulf carriers.
    The airline has said it will not improve its offer to raise pay by 3.5 percent in exchange for longer hours.
    The union had said it would widen strike action unless Lufthansa improved its offer.
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