Thousands of Berliners are facing travel misery after ground crews at both the German capital’s airports started striking early on Friday morning, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations.
A spokesperson for the local airport association confirmed that almost every single flight out of and into both Berlin airports had been affected by the strike, Thelocal.de reported.
At Tegel airport in the north of the city, 455 flights were called off, while at Schoenefeld airport 204 flights were cancelled.
The strike started at 4 a.m. on Friday morning and is set to last until 5 a.m. on Saturday, with the airports warning passengers to expect delays after the strikes end, too.
Customers with the airlines Lufthansa, Eurowings and Air Berlin flying inside Germany could have their tickets converted into train tickets with Deutsche Bahn (German Rail).
Those flying with budget airlines Transavia were not so lucky. The KLM subsidiary only offered its customers the opportunity to book a flight at a later date or receive the cost of their ticket back.
Many travelers flying abroad were left scrambling to make contingency plans, with buses leaving from Tegel on Friday morning to Hanover Airport, where several flights had been rescheduled, Tagesspiegel reports.
The strike also comes on the weekend when Berlin hosts the International Tourism Fair, which is expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors from across Europe.
The call to strike was made by union Verdi, which has demanded a pay raise of €1 per hour for ground staff with work contract terms of at least one year. Currently ground crew members earn on average €11 per hour.
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