Easter strikes disrupted flights
UFO cabin crew strikes on April 10 triggered hundreds of cancellations at Frankfurt and Munich airports and disrupted Lufthansa’s operations during peak Easter travel (nomadlawyer.org). Reports tied the cancellations to broader European connection disruptions as families traveled for the holiday (nomadlawyer.org).
Lufthansa’s cabin crew strike on Friday, April 10, canceled hundreds of flights and snarled Easter return travel through Frankfurt and Munich. (dw.com) The Independent Flight Attendants’ Organization, known as UFO, called on Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine crews to walk out from 12:01 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time. Deutsche Welle reported that about 20,000 flight attendants were covered by the strike. (dw.com) At Frankfurt, nearly 75% of roughly 350 scheduled Lufthansa departures were canceled, according to Deutsche Welle. Bloomberg reported the one-day action could wipe out more than 520 flights and affect about 90,000 passengers. (dw.com) (bloomberg.com) The strike hit at the end of Germany’s Easter school holidays, when many families were flying home and many long-haul passengers were connecting through Lufthansa’s two biggest hubs. Lufthansa said the timing would hit “return travel at the end of the Easter holidays.” (dw.com) The labor fight is wider than a single day’s cancellations. UFO said Lufthansa had not put forward a negotiable offer on working conditions for about 19,000 cabin crew, while CityLine crews were also seeking a social plan for roughly 800 employees as the regional unit is wound down. (dw.com) UFO said 94% of Lufthansa members and 99% of CityLine members backed strike action in ballots last month. The union said it had avoided the Easter bank holidays themselves, but acknowledged that travelers returning afterward would still be caught in the disruption. (dw.com) Lufthansa urged the union to resume talks and said strikes should be a last resort. The airline said it expected to offer a largely regular schedule again from Saturday, April 11, and told affected passengers to check flight status before leaving for the airport. (dw.com) (lufthansa.com) The April 10 walkout was Lufthansa’s third major strike this year after earlier pilot stoppages in February and mid-March. For Easter travelers, that meant another holiday weekend shaped less by weather than by an unresolved labor dispute at Germany’s biggest airline. (dw.com)
