Berlin — Thousands of flights into and out of Germany are cancelled on Friday due to strikes, prompting Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart and Hamburg airports to cancel all regular passenger operations that day.
Trade union Verdi also said that the strikes would affect the airports in Dortmund, Hanover and Bremen.
The strike is due to begin in the early hours of Friday morning and end on Saturday night.
Aid deliveries to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria are to be exempt from the strike, organizers said.
An emergency service agreement had been reached for government flights in connection with the international security conference in Munich, a spokeswoman said.
The government planes would be handled, while other conference visitors would have to find alternative travel options.
The strike will affect Lufthansa passengers in particular, as the airline cancelled about 1,200 flights at Frankfurt and Munich airports as of Wednesday evening, a Lufthansa spokesman said.
The number of cancellations is set to increase, as more airports are affected. The airline said customers would be notified.
The background to the warning strikes is the wage dispute in the public sector. In addition, collective bargaining for aviation security is ongoing throughout Germany, as well as a round of collective bargaining for ground handling services at some airports.
At Germany's largest airport, in Frankfurt, 1,005 flight movements had been planned for Friday, a spokesperson for operator Fraport said. She said 137,000 passengers were affected.
In Stuttgart, according to the airport, 162 flights and about 20,000 passengers are affected by the warning strike.
Munich airport spoke of more than 700 affected takeoffs and landings.
In Hamburg, the industrial action affects about 32,000 passengers, according to an airport spokesperson.
All affected passengers were told to check directly with the airlines about the status of their flight and not to come to the airport.
ADV airport association said it expected some 2,340 domestic and international flights would be cancelled.
"The fact that more than 295,000 air travelers will have to suffer as a result of the conflict on Friday is not reasonable. Solutions must be found at the negotiating table and not on the backs of the passengers," said Ralph Beisel, chief executive of the ADV.
The industrial action escalates the unions' dispute with the federal government and municipalities ahead of a new round of negotiations over a 12-month collective bargaining contract for public sector employees on February 22 and 23.
Trade union Verdi and the German Civil Service Association (dbb) are demanding a pay rise of 10.5% or a minimum of €500 ($537) for the approximately 2.5 million employees in the public sector.
Aside from the public sector talks, collective bargaining agreements are also being negotiated for aviation security workers employed at the national level and ground staff at the local level.
Airport strikes were held last month in Berlin and Dusseldorf.
"Inflation, high energy and food prices are driving most employees into an insecure situation," Verdi deputy chair Christine Behle said in a statement. "Many no longer know how to pay their rents and stock the fridge. They need significantly more money to make a living."
She said Germany is suffering from a massive labour shortage among ground handling staff that can be fixed by offering more attractive pay.
Aviation security workers, meanwhile, would be entitled to an increase in bonuses under the unions' terms.
Air traffic is extremely susceptible to strikes because of the number of service providers that are needed to keep operations going. For instance, a strike by one of the small, but critical, security-related groups can often be enough to cripple an airport.
Verdi play a major role in Germany's air traffic infrastructure as many members are represented under public sector wage agreements.
The latest strikes come despite the fact that major IT problems due to building works caused severe disruptions, mainly at Frankfurt Airport, on Wednesday.
Lufthansa's computer system broke down on Wednesday morning, forcing it to cancel and reroute flights en masse, especially at Frankfurt. Thousands of passengers missed their connections.
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