Lufthansa strike hits air travel for second time this month

BERLIN — Ground staff at German airline Lufthansa walked off the job at major airports on Tuesday (Feb 20) in their second strike this month, raising pressure in wage talks due to continue on Wednesday.

Over 100,000 passengers will be affected by the industrial action, which is due to run until 7.10 am (0610 GMT) on Wednesday, the national carrier has said.

Lufthansa said it could only operate 10-20 per cent of scheduled flights at the affected airports, which include the country's biggest hub in Frankfurt as well as Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Duesseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart.

The first flights were cancelled on Monday evening.

Germany, Europe's largest economy, has been hit with a number of nationwide strikes affecting air travel, railways and public transport, as workers faced with high inflation demand greater pay.

The latest strike at Lufthansa comes after the airline presented a new wage offer for some 25,000 ground staff workers last week. Labour union Verdi described the offer as "blatantly antisocial".

Verdi is demanding a wage rise of 12.5 per cent or at least 500 euros (S$724.80) more per month over a 12-month period, plus a one-time payment of 3,000 euros to offset inflation.

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