Lufthansa Cancels Over 400 Flights on Airport-Security Strike

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG will cancel at least 414 flights due to a strike on Tuesday by security staff at eight German airports, including the airline’s hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.

The cancellations include 386 flights within Europe and 28 intercontinental services, Lufthansa said on Monday. Airport-security workers in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Hanover, Bremen, Dresden, Leipzig/Halle and Erfurt plan to walk out from 2 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday as the Ver.di union pushes for higher wages.

“Because employers have shown no willingness to make a better offer, the extension of warning strikes has become necessary,” Ver.di board member Ute Kittel said in a statement on Monday. Talks are due to start again on Jan. 23.

Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, said the flight cancellation figures currently don’t yet include its operations at Munich airport, suggesting the total figure will rise.

“These are no longer just warning strikes but completely disproportionate,” Matthias von Randow, managing director of the BDL employers’ group, said Monday. “The wages of security control personnel have increased by almost 50 percent since 2011.”

To contact the reporter on this story: William Wilkes in Frankfurt at wwilkes1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Chris Reiter, Iain Rogers

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