Ground staff end strike at German airline Lufthansa

Employees demonstrate in front of the Lufthansa Technik premises in Hamburg. The warning strike for passenger-related areas is due to end at 7.10 a.m. on 9 March. According to Lufthansa, around 200,000 passengers are likely to be affected by cancellations and delays in air traffic. Ulrich Perrey/dpa

Lufthansa ground staff ended a multi-day strike over pay on Saturday morning, allowing flight services to largely resume, a spokesman for the German carrier said.

The industrial action by trade union Verdi ended as planned at 7:10 am (0610 GMT). The union had called on around 25,000 employees to stop work from Wednesday evening, resulting in the cancellation of about 1,000 flights on both Thursday and Friday.

However, the departure boards at the Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich still showed some cancellations on Saturday morning. Passengers were asked to regularly check the status of their planned flight via the company's website or app.

An additional strike by aviation security staff in Hamburg and Frankfurt already ended on Thursday.

Verdi is demanding a salary increase of 12.5% for ground staff over a period of 12 months in addition to an inflation adjustment bonus of €3,000 ($3,280). The next round of negotiations is scheduled to begin next Wednesday.

Employees demonstrate in front of the Lufthansa Technik premises in Hamburg. The warning strike for passenger-related areas is due to end at 7.10 a.m. on 9 March. According to Lufthansa, around 200,000 passengers are likely to be affected by cancellations and delays in air traffic. Ulrich Perrey/dpa

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