Lufthansa has cancelled all flights from its Frankfurt and Munich hubs today (February 17), due to strike action from staff under the Ver.di trade union. Other airports affected are in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dortmund, Hanover and Bremen, affecting more than 1 300 flights.

"We regret the enormous impact of this warning strike, which is being carried out at the expense of our passengers. We are not a party to the collective bargaining and have no influence on it – nevertheless, our guests and we are massively affected,” says Michael Niggemann, Chief Officer of Human Resources & Infrastructure at Lufthansa.

Lufthansa has already informed passengers affected and, where possible, is busy offering alternative connections and rebooking via rail.

“We consider the announced warning strikes to be disproportionate and unreasonable. Collective bargaining disputes are to be solved at the negotiating table but these ones are being carried out once again at the expense of several hundred thousand passengers in Germany and abroad,” says Michael Hoppe, Chairman and Executive Director of BARIG, the airline association of national and international airlines in Germany. (BARIG in Germany is the Board of Airline Representatives in Germany, the equivalent of BARSA in South Africa. It represents the interests of airlines operating in Germany.)

“In addition to the immense economic damage, the strikes also cause severe disruptions in supply chains when hundreds of tons of air freight remain grounded not just in Germany but all around the world.

“Moreover, the transport of humanitarian aid supplies for the earthquake regions in Turkey and Syria will also be significantly impaired and unnecessarily complicated,” the BARIG statement said.