German transport is reeling from a series of crippling strikes that have also affected today”s (5 March) ITB show opening in Berlin.
Public service workers have walked out at airports across Germany, while their colleagues on Berlin”s underground and bus system have also wreaked travel chaos.
Lufthansa was forced to cancel 300 services today ”as a precautionary measure,” with domestic flights most severely affected. Long-haul operations are however, expected to depart as scheduled.
”Lufthansa regrets the travel restrictions arising from the strike action and will do everything in its power to keep inconvenience to its passengers to a minimum,” said a spokesman for the German carrier.
The airline is also advising passengers booked on domestic flights to use the national Deutsche Bahn (DB) rail network today. Customers with an electronic ticket will be able to exchange these for a travel voucher at Lufthansa desks.
Despite the 300 cancelled services, Lufthansa confidently predicted that it would be ”back to normal by late afternoon [but] there will be some delays.”
In a sign of a worsening mood among public sector workers, DB is itself threatened with a strike on 10 March, with the union ”not talking at the moment,” according to a DB spokesman.
A visitor to ITB told ABTN from Berlin that there were ”massive problems” today as thousands tried to make their way to the exhibition. ”The local transport organisations are on strike and we don”t know when it will finish,” she said.
”The traffic situation has massive problems and some people are missing because they couldn”t make their flights.”
ITB is advising visitors to use the S-Bahn in Berlin, which remains unaffected by strike action, particularly numbers S41 and S42 to the Messe Nord station in front of the ICC Berlin.
S-Bahn lines S75 and S9 will bring attendees to Messe Sud, from where access can be gained to Entrance South. The ITB City-Shuttle is also available to the exhibition hall on bus line A.