Trade Union Holds Strike At Hamburg Airport, One-Fifth Of Flights Canceled - Airport

Nearly 1 in 5 flights from Hamburg International Airport have been canceled since the start of the ver.di trade union's most recent strike, the airport said, adding that further cancellations and even delays may be possible

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th March, 2019) Nearly 1 in 5 flights from Hamburg International Airport have been canceled since the start of the ver.di trade union's most recent strike, the airport said, adding that further cancellations and even delays may be possible.

"At short notice, the ver.di union has called for a work stoppage by airport ground handling service employees in Hamburg on Thursday, 14 March, 2019, between 12:30 and 00:00 p.m. [11:30 and 23:00 GMT]," the statement from the fifth-largest commercial airport in Germany revealed.

According to the official data, the airport handled some 17 million passengers in 2017.

Baggage and aircraft landing areas will be affected by the strike, and at least 48 out of 251 flights have been already canceled and "further cancellations and delays can not be excluded," according to the airport.

The airport, which is situated in the Germany's second-largest city, has condemned the timing of the strike, which coincides with school holidays when many families go on vacation.

"We consider this recurrence of strike action during the Hamburg school break to be irresponsible and unjust, because it mostly hurts families going on holiday. Once again, the industrial action is being borne by the passengers. We are not surprised that passengers are losing patience and sympathy," Katja Bromm, press officer at the airport, said.

The organizers of the strike, Berlin-based ver.di, also known as the German United Services Trade Union, demand a pay increase for airport workers. Its strike last month similarly led to dozens of flights at Hamburg airport being canceled.

Germany has been experiencing major strikes across its airports that have resulted in travel chaos for customers. The affected airports include those in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Leipzig, Hanover, Bremen, Cologne and Dresden.