Lufthansa Group has warned passengers of the potential for “significant disruption” at Frankfurt airport on 15 January, when security staff are due to go on strike.
Trade union Verdi has called for security personnel at Frankfurt am Main to strike from 0200 until 2000. During that time, air traffic restrictions are expected.
The union was behind similar strike action at Berlin Tegel and Schoenefeld airports on 7 January and at Cologne Bonn, Dusseldorf and Stuttgart airports on 10 January. It says it cannot rule out calling further walk-outs at other airports in a row over pay.
In a statement, Lufthansa said it will publish flight cancellations on its website on Sunday afternoon and that passengers will be able to rebook online after this point. In addition, customers due to fly from the airport on Tuesday are being offered the chance to rebook their flights for a date between 11 and 20 January free of charge.
The airport warns that security checkpoints outside the transit area will remain closed during the strike, meaning passengers will not be able to complete the legally required checks in order to get to their flights.
Therefore, the operator is advising all passengers originating from Frankfurt not to travel to the airport on Tuesday.
It says arrivals should operate as normal, but passengers transferring between flights should expect some disruption.
Lufthansa executive board member Dr Detlef Kayser commented: “Although all aviation partners agreed that we want to improve the situation for our passengers in 2019, the Verdi union is escalating this collective bargaining dispute disproportionately and to an unacceptable extent. This series of strikes can certainly no longer be described as warning strikes. It is also clear that Verdi has no interest in making its contribution to improving Germany as an aviation location. We already have the lowest quality security checks at the highest costs, compared to Europe and other countries around the world.”
Verdi is demanding an increase in the hourly wage of passenger, freight, personnel and goods security control staff to €20, with negotiations due to continue on 23 January in Berlin.