The situation at Cologne/Bonn Airport has hardly calmed down when new troubles arise for passengers: Verdi has announced a warning strike by Lufthansa ground staff for Wednesday. There is therefore a risk of serious impairments in Düsseldorf, but not in Cologne/Bonn.
Cologne (dpa/lnw) - After the chaotic conditions at Cologne/Bonn Airport over the weekend, air travelers in North Rhine-Westphalia are threatened with new problems: Due to a all-day warning strike by Lufthansa ground staff next Wednesday, Düsseldorf Airport is expecting serious disruptions to flight operations.
The Lufthansa subsidiary Leos, which was affected by the strike, is responsible for the so-called "push-back" in 70 to 80 percent of all departures in Düsseldorf, the airport reported on Monday. The machines are pushed back from their parking position onto the runway so that they can taxi towards the runway.
After the chaotic conditions at the weekend due to insufficiently manned security checks, the situation at Cologne/Bonn Airport eased on Monday. The situation is not comparable to that of Saturday, said the airport spokesman. At the weekend, hundreds of travelers missed their flight at NRW's second largest airport due to long waiting times, and there were also significant delays.
In order to calm the heated situation with unnerved passengers, who at times waited in queues several hundred meters long, the police had also been called to the airport. In a message, the airport had spoken of unreasonable waiting times. The federal police and the service provider Securitas are expected to make suggestions as to how the problems at the security checkpoint can be solved "as quickly as possible". At times, less than half of the planned lanes at the security checkpoint were open
More than 430 flight movements with a total of around 57,000 passengers are planned for Wednesday at Düsseldorf Airport. All passengers who have planned a flight on this day were asked to contact their airline or tour operator as soon as possible to find out about the current status of their flight. A spokesman for the largest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia emphasized that the airport is not a collective bargaining partner, but merely the workplace at which the industrial dispute is being fought.
According to a spokesman, Cologne/Bonn Airport is not or hardly affected by the warning strike. The number of passengers at the airport between Cologne and Bonn is high during the summer holidays. Up to 37,000 passengers depart or arrive at the weekend. The airport said there were discussions with the airlines to reduce flights at peak times
