Lufthansa strike: Airline warns 90% of flights will be cancelled amid 35-hour walkout affecting major airports including Frankfurt and Munich

Lufthansa has warned that 90% of its flights will be cancelled today (Tuesday 20 February) amid a 35-hour strike by ground staff. Around 25,000 members of the Verdi union will walk out from 8pm local time on Monday (19 February) until just after 7am on Wednesday (21 February.)

It is expected that up to 200,000 passengers on Lufthansa will have their flights cancelled by the short-notice strike. The main effects will be felt at the key hubs, Frankfurt and Munich, though Lufthansa workers at Berlin, Cologne-Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart will also strike.

Lufthansa warns passengers: “Due to the strike, we currently assume that only around 10 to 20 per cent of the Lufthansa airline flight programme can be operated, particularly on 20 February.” It is expected that the vast majority of flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich, including all links serving UK airports, will be grounded today.

The German airline currently carries around 200,000 passengers a day. The “first wave” of departures on Wednesday will also be targeted leading to many more cancellations, for example the first flight from Frankfurt to London on Wednesday has already been cancelled.

Lufthansa said in a statement: “Passengers who are affected by flight cancellations because of the Verdi strike will be informed by email or via the Lufthansa app. We regret the inconvenience for our guests.”

The strike comes after talks between the union and airline broke down last week, with Verdi claiming 96 per cent of members had rejected the most recent offer from Lufthansa. The union says pay for ground staff is slipping behind other Lufthansa workers, and that at a time of record profits the airline should “give employees back part of their lost income from the corona pandemic”. 

Verdi negotiator Marvin Reschinsky said: “While the group gives its pilots with annual basic incomes of up to €270,000 [£231,000] high double-digit pay increases, ground workers with starting hourly wages of sometimes €13 [£11] are not even expected to be compensated for the price increases of the last few years. Talks are expected to resume on Wednesday after the strike.