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Frankfurt airport strike to continue until weekend

21 February 2012 09:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Frankfurt airport ground controllers extended industrial action until 11 p.m. on Feb. 24, prolonging a dispute that will probably force the cancellation of as much as 30 percent of flights at Europeâ€™s third-busiest hub today.

The about 200 strikers were due to return to work at 5 a.m. tomorrow, the Gewerkschaft der Flugsicherung union said in a statement yesterday. Walkouts started on Feb. 16 and Feb. 17.

Airport operator Fraport AG expects to maintain about 70 percent of flights today, the fourth day in six to face disruptions, said Juergen Harrer, a spokesman. The company yesterday halted 240 takeoffs and landings, or 20 percent of the 1,250 scheduled, mostly on short-haul routes.

The GdF union has said stoppages will continue until Fraport makes a better offer in a dispute over wages and the terms for outsourcing ground-control jobs. The airport, the main hub for Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA), has said itâ€™s willing to talk if the union makes compromises.

Fraport is meanwhile looking at hiring emergency staff from other airports and says ground-control qualified workers have been drafted in from administrative posts.

The GdF, which has struck deals with airports in Munich and Berlin, said it has accepted a recommendation from mediator Ole von Beust for a two-step increase in monthly wages of between 200 euros ($265) and 1,600 euros. It also wants outsourced jobs to move to a single company on a single contract.