Industrial action by ground controllers at Frankfurt airport has been extended until 11pm on Friday.
The decision prolongs a dispute that is likely to force the cancellation of as much as 30% of flights at Europs’s third-busiest hub today.
Airport operator Fraport expects to maintain about 70% of flights today, the fourth day in six to face disruption. The company yesterday halted 240 take-offs and landings, or 20% of the 1,250 scheduled, mostly on short-haul routes.
About 200 strikers were due to return to work at 5am tomorrow but the GdF union said stoppages will continue until Fraport makes a better offer in a dispute over wages and the terms for outsourcing ground-control jobs.
Fraport is looking at hiring emergency staff from other airports and says ground-control qualified workers have been drafted in from administrative posts.