German Airports Still Expect Delays after End of Major Strike Action

Frankfurt/Munich — Backlogs and delays continued into the weekend as German air travel recovers from staff strikes that paralysed major airports in the country on Friday.

The strikes, which led to the cancellation of around 2,300 flights and disrupted the plans of around 300,000 people, took place across seven of Germany's biggest airports, including Frankfurt and Munich.

At Frankfurt airport on Saturday, a spokesperson for the operator Fraport said delays and isolated flight cancellations were still expected.

It will take time for the situation to normalize given that there was a backlog of flights that had to be dealt with, she said, cautioning that the effects of the strike could continue into Sunday.

Operations restarted at Frankfurt on Saturday morning at 5 am. More take-offs and landings than usual were expected this Saturday.

The spokesperson confirmed that 53 flights out of a total of around 1,150 had been cancelled on Saturday. She also said security queues were long and that larger aircraft were being used to compensate for Friday's cancellations.

The airport recommended passengers arrive more than two hours before their flight is set to depart and contact their airline about individual flight information.

Germany's other major airport in Munich resumed normal operations.

"There are no more strike-related cancellations," said an airport spokesperson.

Long security queues had formed, however, because "a lot of traffic had been shifted from Friday to Saturday."

Friday's strikes fell on the day before school holidays started in the southern state of Bavaria. Around 700 take-offs and landings were disrupted.

Airports in Bremen and Hanover, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Dortmund were also affected.

The Verdi trade union called for the day-long strike to increase pressure on employers in several ongoing collective bargaining talks.

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