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Strike grounds one in nine Frankfurt flights

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Strike grounds one in nine Frankfurt flights
Photo: DPA

At least 148 flights from Frankfurt airport were cancelled on Monday morning due to a strike by tarmac traffic controllers demanding higher wages.

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The airport operator Fraport confirmed on Monday morning that around one in nine flights would not take off or land at Germany’s biggest airport. “Apart from that we expect normal flight traffic,” a company spokesman said.

He said the aim was to get at least 85 percent of the planned flights off the ground.

Long-haul flights will largely go ahead as scheduled – those cancelled are mostly those to and from domestic and European destinations, which can be reached by train.

The 200 so-called apron workers, who direct planes on the ground, walked off the job on Sunday evening – resulting in ten immediate flight cancellations. Their union is increasing the pressure on Fraport this week – after a series of shorter strikes since February 16, staff will this week stay away from work until Thursday morning.

Fraport has called the action “completely over the top and unjustifiable” and insisted it made concessions “on many points in the union’s extremely high demands.”

About 80 percent of scheduled flights remained on schedule during strikes last week as temporary employees were trained to take over the duties of the striking workers. However, more than 1,000 flights were prevented from taking off or landing.

DPA/DAPD/The Local/hc

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