The nationwide strike by lufthansa flight attendants largely paralyzed operations at europe’s largest airline on friday. More than 1,000 of the nearly 1,800 scheduled flights were canceled. Munich airport was also unusually quiet – half of the 620 lufthansa takeoffs and landings were canceled there. In nurnberg, five flights to frankfurt, hamburg and munich were cancelled by late friday morning. In the meantime, there is hope for a solution to the collective bargaining dispute: the flight attendants’ union ufo announced that there are first signs of an agreement.
After the early announcement of the strike, lufthansa informed more than 60,000 passengers of the cancellation by text message and e-mail as early as wednesday, as lufthansa spokesman stephan sellmaier said in munich. That is why the situation on site is now very relaxed. "Terminal 2 is much quieter than on a normal day. Passengers know that there will be a strike and have prepared for it in good time", said airport spokesman florian steuer. No one had to spend the night on a field bed in the terminal.
At munich terminal 1, which is used by the other airlines, it was "business as usual", said the airport spokesman. An air berlin employee said there was no extra rush at her counters, everything was running as usual.
Although half of lufthansa’s planes had to stay on the ground, there was no shortage of parking space. "Terminal 2 is not fully parked. We do not have any parking problem", said tax. Where transfer passengers had not been able to get on, lufthansa had also cancelled many flights from america or asia.
The ufo union is not planning any more strikes for the time being, as ufo boss nicoley baublies said in frankfurt on friday. There are clear signs of a slowdown. "In the next two days it depends on language", he explained. Lufthansa spokesman klaus walther said in frankfurt that there are "delicate contacts" with the union. Ufo demands five percent more pay from lufthansa, an end to subcontracted work and protection against the outsourcing of jobs.