Flight operations at Germany’s largest airport in Frankfurt were severely disrupted, leaving hundreds of travellers stranded, as around 200 airfield traffic controllers went on a seven-hour warning strike to press their demands for higher pay and better working conditions.
Over 170 flights were cancelled after the marshals directing the aircraft to and from their parking slots and the staff controlling aircraft movements on the tarmac from the airport’s control tower stopped working at 3 pm local time yesterday.
Fraport, the company which run’s Europe’s second largest air hub, however, claimed that it managed to operate 50 per cent of the scheduled flights by deploying former airfield controllers currently working in other departments.
Out of 526 flights planned for yesterday afternoon, 172 were cancelled till the strike ended at 10 pm local time, a Fraport spokesman said in Frankfurt.
The airport eased its ban on night flights between 11 pm and 5 am and allowed some of the flights to leave in order to clear the backlog of stranded passengers, the spokesman said.
German airlines Lufthansa, which has its main European hub in Frankfurt, said more than 100 of its flights were grounded yesterday, but only the domestic and European flights were affected by the strike and all inter-continental flights operated according to plans.
Lufthansa, Air Berlin and some other airlines reached an agreement with the German Railways which would enable stranded passengers to use their air tickets to travel by train to various destinations in Germany and across Europe.
The airport was bracing for more chaos as the airfield traffic controllers supported by the powerful air traffic controllers’ trade union GdF threatened to resume their strike if no agreement is reached with the Fraport on their demand for higher pay.
Lufthansa said around 250 flights planned for today have been cancelled. Even though the airfield traffic controllers are a very small group, they are unavoidable for landings and take-offs.
Fraport chairman, Mr Peter Schmitz, accused their trade union of using their powerful position in the airport operations to make “excessive” demands.