1,300 flights canceled in Germany due to airport strike

Germany’s two largest airports came to a virtual standstill on February 17 as ground staff stage another strike over pay, exacerbating an already chaotic week for air travel after a system outage brought down Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s operations two days ago, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

Security and other ground crew in Frankfurt and Munich began their one-day walkouts early Friday, leading to 1,300 flight cancellations for national carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the biggest carrier at the two hubs.

The renewed travel snags come just days after the airline’s global fleet was temporarily grounded when construction workers in Frankfurt severed a communications cable. While passengers were warned ahead of time of the pending strike today, the protests come at a time when air travel was enjoying a robust comeback from the coronavirus pandemic, leading to surging traffic.

Air traffic, particularly leisure travel, has bounced back strongly from the pandemic. The surge caused chaos at airports across Europe last summer after operators and ground personnel struggled to meet demand.

Strikes are also taking place at Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dortmund, Hanover and Bremen airports. Verdi held a similar walkout at Berlin’s main hub last month, cutting Germany’s capital off from international air travel.