Germany’s largest airport, in Frankfurt, was closed to departing passengers on Thursday due to a strike by the ground staff of the German airline Lufthansa. That German media report Wednesday.
The security guards will stop work for 24 hours on Wednesday evening. The remaining ground staff will remain on strike until Saturday morning. This means that all other airports in Germany are likely to be affected to some extent. More than 1,000 flights would be canceled, with around 200,000 passengers affected. For the Netherlands, this means that half of the flights to and from Schiphol will be canceled up to and including Saturday morning.
Train traffic between the Netherlands and Germany disrupted
The employees have been called on by the German trade union Verdi to strike for a salary increase. The union is demanding a wage increase of 12.5 percent and inflation compensation for the past year, but the airline does not want to go higher than 10 percent.
Travelers who are looking for an alternative to get to their destination will also not be able to use German trains in the coming days. Employees of German railway companies are striking at the same time for better employment conditions, among other things to compensate for increased inflation. For example, the German machinists’ union GDL is demanding a shorter working week of 35 hours instead of 38 hours for the same wage. This means that trains to and from the Netherlands will not run from Thursday night to Friday afternoon.