Hamburg Airport officials comment on ongoing strike

Shaimaa Ibrahim

Al-Majie has requested an official statement from officials at Germany's Hamburg Airport on conditions at the airport. The officials sent the site the following statement:

Strike by Verdi labor union leads to total suspension of landing and takeoff operations at the airport

Landing operations came to a halt at the airport as of 15:30 on Monday. A total of 100 flights have been cancelled out of 388. Passengers express anger at the lack of respect for their scheduled flights.

We cannot guarantee that airport operations would return to normal any time soon by workers who have not joined the strike.

The planned 24-hour strike has led to a total suspension of work at the airport. More flight cancellations are expected in the coming hours. Around 50,000 passengers can be affected by the strike today.

Al-Marjie has also received the following statement from Christian Noack, the CEO of HAM Ground Handling Company which operates at the airport:

The strike led by Verdi is both exaggerated and unreasonable. The union demands more than what we can afford for the workers. We will risk the collapse of the entire company if we agree to the demands Verdi is submitting.

Ground staff members get more salaries than other workers at the airport.

Travelers have to pay attention to the following:

Travelers to or from Hamburg have to ensure that their flights will take off before arriving to the airport. They have to call their airline if need be. Travelers also have to reduce their baggage to a minimum. They can take their handbags only to the airport if possible.

Background