Most Lufthansa flights are set to be cancelled on Tuesday (20 February) as the airline’s ground staff hold another one-day strike.
Around 25,000 members of the Verdi union are set to walk out between 4am on Tuesday and 7.10am on Wednesday (21 February) in an ongoing pay dispute with the German airline.
It will be the second one-day stoppage affecting Lufthansa this month after ground staff took similar industrial action on 7 February leading to the grounding of most flights on that day.
Lufthansa warned that this week’s strike would lead to “heavy restrictions” on its flights – particularly on Tuesday - with only 10 to 20 per cent of scheduled services set to operate during the strike period. An estimated 200,000 travellers are likely to be affected by this disruption.
“Passengers who are affected by flight cancellations because of the Verdi strike will be informed by email or via the Lufthansa app. We regret the inconvenience for our guests,” said the airline in an update.
“Please only come to the airport if your flight has not been cancelled. Due to the strike, the rebooking counters are unfortunately not staffed.”
The strike action will affect Lufthansa’s flights from its main hubs at Frankfurt and Munich, as well as Berlin, Cologne-Bonn, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart airports.
Verdi is seeking a pay rise of 12.5 per cent, or at least an extra €500 per month, for ground employees at Lufthansa. But last week’s talks between the union and airline failed to reach a deal leading to the latest strike.
Marvin Reschinsky, negotiator for Verdi, said he “regrets the further escalation of the conflict” with Lufthansa.
“We do not want this escalation,” he added. “We want a quick result for employees and passengers. Management should have come to their senses after the last strike at the latest.”
Negotiations are set to resume between Verdi and Lufthansa on Wednesday (21 February).