Hamburg airport suspended operations due to trade union strike

Hamburg airport has suspended operations due to the start of a strike by the Ver.di trade union a day before a planned 24-hour protest in almost all German airports, the Bild newspaper reported on March 9.

"The airport is closed on March 9 — Ver.di is on strike without warning," reads the red line of the breaking news on the Hamburg Airport website.

The union demands an 8% salary increase or at least €350 per month, as well as an increase in bonuses and additional vacation time.

Passengers were notified of the flight cancellations by e-mail or via messaging services, the newspaper noted.

"The complete lack of attention from the Ver.di trade union. We wanted to go skiing in Salzburg with the whole family. Now we don't even know if we'll get there," the newspaper quoted one of the passengers on the cancelled flight as saying.

What happened in Magdeburg: a car drove into the crowd at the Christmas fair

There are dead and wounded

Earlier, the Ver.di trade union called on employees of almost all airports in Germany to take part in a 24-hour strike on Monday, March 10. Its representatives warned that passengers should prepare for massive restrictions on departure and arrival, including flight cancellations.

In February, a strike by members of the Ver.di trade union also took place in the central district of Munich. On the same day, an Afghan citizen drove into a crowd of protesters, injuring 30 people.