(new: Lufthansa cancels 1300 flights)

FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The chaos in German air traffic continues. According to estimates of the airport association ADV, almost 300,000 passengers are affected by flight cancellations this Friday, because the trade union Verdi strikes seven German airports all day. Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart and Hamburg airports announced they would suspend regular passenger operations for the entire Friday.

According to ADV calculations, the warning strike will lead to a good 2340 flight cancellations. "More than 295,000 passengers are becoming a pawn in Verdi's strike tactics," the association criticized, speaking of an "unprecedented escalation." The walkouts no longer had anything to do with warning strikes, said Jost Lammers, president of the industry association BDL and Munich Airport CEO. "With this, Verdi is completely overstepping the mark and is carrying out the wage dispute on the backs of passengers."

On Thursday, Lufthansa 's operations had just returned to normal after the IT systems of Germany's largest airline collapsed on Wednesday. The cause of more than 230 flight cancellations in Frankfurt was cable damage to a rail line in Frankfurt caused by an excavator the day before. Also on Thursday, hackers tried to disrupt the websites of seven smaller airports with a large number of targeted requests.

Dortmund, Hanover and Bremen are also affected by the Verdi work stoppage. The warning strike is scheduled to begin early Friday morning and end Saturday night. According to ADV statistics for 2022, the seven airports account for nearly two-thirds (64.5 percent) of Germany's passenger traffic. Surprisingly, Verdi still called for a warning strike at Leipzig Airport on Thursday, starting at 3 p.m. on the same day and lasting until 6 a.m. on Friday.

With the strike, the employees want to emphasize their demands in the collective bargaining dispute of the public service of the federal government and local authorities. In addition to the public service, there are also local negotiations for ground handling services and a nationwide round of collective bargaining for aviation security.

In the public sector pay dispute, Verdi and the civil servants' association DBB are demanding 10.5 percent more income, but at least 500 euros more for the approximately 2.5 million employees of the federal and local governments. The term is to be twelve months. The employers have rejected the demands. The second round of negotiations is scheduled for February 22 and 23 in Potsdam. An offer from the employers has not yet been made.

Regular passenger operations will not be possible in Frankfurt on Friday, the operator Fraport announced. Exceptions were emergency flights for military or medical purposes and emergencies. In Frankfurt alone, 1005 flight movements with 137,000 passengers were canceled for Friday. Fraport called on passengers not to come to the airport and to contact their airline for information. Transfer passengers are also affected.

Lufthansa has to cancel around 1300 flights at its most important locations in Frankfurt and Munich alone, according to personnel manager Michael Niggemann. This proves once again how vulnerable and susceptible the air traffic system is to strike activities. Thousands of passengers will have to be rebooked on other flights or by rail, which is expecting a high load factor.

Verdi vice president Christine Behle had explained that aid flights to the Turkish-Syrian earthquake region via emergency services would be exempt from the strike. In addition, relief supplies could be flown out via Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, which is not on strike. However, an unknown number of passenger flights are also cancelled at the seven airports that are on strike, which could at least theoretically have transported aid supplies as additional cargo. Cargo planes of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo scheduled for Friday will be allowed to take off, according to the airlines.

The warning strike comes at the start of the Munich Security Conference, considered one of the most important meetings on security policy in the world. Flights for the security conference are exempt from the suspension of normal passenger operations in Munich, the airport stressed. The conference is working to be able to guarantee the arrival of participants, it said. Behle had recommended traveling by train or via Nuremberg Airport.

The Verdi vice chairwoman defended the all-day warning strike, which will be accompanied by rallies and demonstrations. "The employees, who are often precariously employed at the airports in particular, now need signs from the employers that they are moving, and above all they need significantly more money quickly - because now their refrigerators have to be filled, high rents paid and extremely increased energy costs settled."

A strike ballot was not held, he said, because negotiations had not yet broken down. The joint action of the three occupational groups even relieved the airports and the passengers, Behle said. "Striking together with them all on one day means for the airports that they only have to prepare for this one day and not be struck on different days."

Employers in the aviation security industry criticized the walkout. Their association, BDLS, is resisting the union's strategy of having its negotiations conflated with those of the public sector and ground handling services. "Verdi is making common cause with several other trades, and so for outsiders the goals and boundaries of the strike are blurred. This is being exploited quite deliberately" said BDLS negotiator Rainer Friebertshäuser./ceb/DP/jha