All flights cancelled as workers strike at 2 German airports

All passenger flights were cancelled on Monday at the Leipzig/Halle and Dresden airports in eastern Germany, as the country faces yet another strike in the transport sector, reported dpa.

"More than 100 flights are affected at both airports combined," said a spokesman for the airport operator.

The strike comes at an especially bad time, since the two-week school winter holidays started in the state of Saxony, where the airports are located, over the weekend.

Holiday plans for thousands of passengers had to be cancelled.

Trade union Verdi called on the employees of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG to start a 48-hour strike early on Sunday morning.

According to Verdi, around 1,300 people work at both airports. Air traffic is expected to resume as planned in the early hours of Tuesday.

The union is demanding a pay rise of €650 ($700) for 2024 and an inflation compensation payment of €3,000.

Verdi had described the employer's offer - an increase in pay of €330 over the next three years and an inflation compensation payment of €2,200 - as falling short of expectations.

The wage negotiations are due to continue at the end of February. Until then, working groups from both parties agreed to talk.

"Against this background, such a massive strike is absolutely incomprehensible and difficult to explain to passengers and airline customers alike," the airport operator's spokesman said.

Last week, ground staff of Germany's biggest airline Lufthansa walked off the job at five major airports in a 27-hour strike as part of an ongoing wage dispute. The week before, the Verdi trade union called on security staff to walk off the job.