Frankfurt Airport strike to continue until Wednesday morning

GlobalPost

Frankfurt Airport faced another day of cascading cancellations after apron operators, workers who guide planes to parking spots, continued to strike. Frankfurt is Europe's third busiest and Germany's busiest airport.

Reuters reported that Lufthansa, Germany’s flagship carrier, would bear the economic brunt of the strike. Lufthansa is the largest carrier in Germany and at Frankfurt airport. The airline said it would cancel German and European flights, while intercontinental flights would be unchanged.

70 percent of flights will operate, according to Bloomberg, even though the striking workers comprise just one percent of the airport’s staff. 

200 flights would be canceled on Monday and 160 on Tuesday, according to Reuters, and the striking union GdF, said its workers would not go back onto the job until Wednesday at 5 AM at the earliest, the Associated Press reported.

The airport authority, Fraport, expects to lose 3.5 to 4 million euros, while airline analysts expect Lufthansa to suffer a 40 million euro revenue loss.

The workers are demanding an increase in pay of 50 to 70 percent because, they argue, their jobs have become more complicated since Frankfurt’s fourth runway opened to accommodate growing traffic and the Airbus A380 superjet.

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