GERMANY: Ryanair Cancels German Flights As A Result Of Strike

Ryanair says it will cancel 150 flights out of 400 scheduled to fly to and from Germany on Wednesday due to a 24-hour strike by pilots and cabin crew.

The row over pay and conditions follows a series of strikes over the summer, with walkouts in Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Affected passengers would be offered alternative flights, the airline said.

In August, Ryanair struck a deal with Irish pilots and said it was hopeful it would secure further deals.

However, since then seven trade unions representing cabin crew in Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands have threatened to strike later this month unless the airline improves working conditions.

The unions have warned it would be the biggest strike action the company has ever seen.

The Irish airline, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, said Wednesday's strikes would damage Ryanair's business in Germany and described them as unnecessary.

These are wildcat strikes designed to cause maximum disruption to our customers and maximum damage to the Ryanair business, said Ryanair's chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs, speaking at a news conference in Frankfurt in Germany.

The Vereinigung Cockpit pilot union and the Verdi services sector union say there has been no progress on their demands, despite repeated negotiations with management.

But Ryanair argued it had offered more local contracts and pay rises for pilots in Germany.

It is unacceptable that a union representing Ryanair's German pilots, who earn up to €190,000 a year and work a five-day week followed by a four-day weekend, is now threatening customers' travel plans at short notice, Mr Jacobs said.

Ryanair agreed last year to recognise unions as official representatives for workers for the first time in its 33-year history.

The move followed a scheduling crisis last September which led to the cancellation of thousands of flights.

So far the airline has agreed a deal with Italian pilots over working conditions and last month, Irish pilots voted to accept an agreement on improved working conditions.


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GERMANY: Hundreds Of Flights Canceled As Strikes Affect German Airports,

Strikes at airports in Düsseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund, Hannover, Frankfurt and Munich are taking place on Wednesday, impacting some 80,000 passengers. German airline Lufthansa has scrapped hundreds of flights.

Ground crews are participating in the mass strikes, which were called by German labor union Verdi in response to a dispute over wage increases. German airline Lufthansa, which is not part of the negotiations, said it had canceled around 900 flights.

Six airports have been targetted by Verdi members working in air safety control, ground services, at check-in counters and in engineering workshops at the airports.

Intercontinental flights were the most affected, but even some domestic and European flights were canceled, Lufthansa said.

In Munich, 740 flights were scrapped, in Frankfurt more than 390, at Cologne/Bonn airport 90, and in Dusseldorf 54, with passengers also facing delays at the airports of Hanover and Dortmund.

Germany's biggest airline Lufthansa took the brunt of the strike with more than 900 flights cancelled and 87,000 passengers grounded. A spokesman for rival Air Berlin said that 87 domestic flights were hit.

A new round of negotiations between Verdi and the government will take place on April 28 and 29.

Verdi - one of Germany's biggest labor unions - is demanding a 6 percent wage increase for some 2 million public service employees it represents. It's also calling for a pay increase of 100 euros ($112.81) per month for trainees.

Wednesday's strike follows similar stoppages Verdi has recently organised in other institutions, including hospitals, town halls and child care centres.

Lufthansa has been hit by several strikes over the past year in wage disputes of its own, with both pilots and cabin staff staging a number of walkouts over pay and early retirement provisions.

GERMANY: Lufthansa Cancels 900 Flights Over Strike

German airline Lufthansa on Tuesday said it had cancelled 895 flights due to airport strikes by German union Verdi which are planned for Wednesday.

Only 40 per cent of an overall roughly 1,500 flights to and from German airports including hubs Frankfurt and Munich would take place, the airline said in a statement.