Flight attendants of Lufthansa are staging a one-day strike on Friday, April 10. According to the German Airports Association ADV, more than 520 flights are expected to be canceled, affecting around 90,000 passengers.
According to the flight attendants' union UFO, all flights of Deutsche Lufthansa AG from airports in Frankfurt and Munich are affected. In addition, cancellations will impact flights of the regional subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine from Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Berlin, and Hanover.
At Frankfurt am Main airport, about 75% of nearly 350 scheduled Lufthansa departures have been canceled. Dozens of flights will also not be operated at Hamburg and Berlin airports.
Many passengers are returning to Germany after the Easter holidays
The strike began at 00:01 (01:01 Moscow time) and will last at least until 22:00 (23:00 Moscow time). Moreover, April 10 and 11 are the last days of the Easter holidays in several German states, many passengers are returning home from vacations.
Lufthansa reported that other airlines in the group - Discover, Lufthansa City, and Eurowings - will, if possible, operate additional flights. Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels Airlines, Air Dolomiti, and ITA Airways will also attempt to increase flight frequency and use larger aircraft on their flights to and from Germany.
The third major strike by Lufthansa since the beginning of the year
The strike is the third major strike by Lufthansa this year. It followed two rounds of pilot strikes. Lufthansa is struggling to find a compromise not only with the flight attendants' union UFO but also with the pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit. In early February, these two organizations joined forces.
UFO is striving to establish a new collective labor agreement for Lufthansa employees, the AFP agency clarified. The union demands a reduction in working hours for about 18,000 flight attendants and stewards. CityLine is discussing a social plan for around 800 flight attendants - the carrier must cease operations next year.