Germany was brought to a standstill on Monday with strikes across the public transport sector, as workers walked out on airlines, railways, ports and buses for 24 hours.
The strikes, organised by the Verdi and EVG unions, were called after pay negotiations ground to a halt. Some 2.5 million employees in the sector are affected.
Virtually all Germany’s airports have been affected, as have a number of railway lines.
In Luxembourg, several flights to Frankfurt and Munich were cancelled at Findel airport on Monday morning, while CFL announced there would be no trains running between Wasserbillig and Trier as a result of the strikes.
Cross-border commuters from Germany were forced to make use of cars and buses on Monday as CFL confirmed they would not be running any trains on line 30 linking Wasserbillig and Trier.
Luxembourg’s railway company recommended commuters use the 306, 303 and 302 buses, which link Trier to Wasserbillig, Kirchberg and Howald respectively.
Traffic jams were reported on the bridge at Wormeldange as a result of increased vehicles on the road, while river traffic suffered a limited impact at the Mertert port. A spokesperson said there had been no direct impact, but the port on the Moselle experienced some delays to freight traffic and did not foresee any major issues. Some trucks had been delayed due to heavy traffic jams in parts of Germany.
German air carrier Lufthansa began cancelling and delaying flights as early as Sunday, ahead of the strikes, due to issues with external IT services affecting check-in and boarding procedures in Frankfurt.
In Luxembourg, only flights to Frankfurt or Munich were affected by the strikes. On Monday morning, three flights to Berlin stayed on schedule, with one operated by Luxair. Other flights arrived at Findel on schedule.
