Lufthansa was virtually grounded on Monday, Germany's largest airline cancelling nearly all of its flights because of a second strike in a month over workers' pay. Lufthansa scrapped 1,700 flights, leaving only about 30 running, after all-day strike action was announced at Germany's biggest airports, including Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg.
Unlike other strikes over the past couple of years, Lufthansa even said it was cancelling the majority of its long-haul flights. "That's 150,000 passengers we are unable to carry today," Lufthansa personnel executive Stefan Lauer said, standing in front of a departure board at Frankfurt showing a swath of cancelled flights.
Germany's airports and railways have been hit with repeated strike action over the past two years, from pilots to tower staff, airfield workers, security staff and train drivers. The emergence of smaller trade unions and years of pay restraint have resulted in tense negotiations and the increased number of strikes. "We want to call on the union to end this madness. Germany's transport sector is becoming the laughing stock of Europe," Lauer said.