No cancellations and only a few minor delays resulted from Monday's strike of 5,000 cabin and ground staff seeking a 9.8% pay hike

Germany's biggest airline, Lufthansa, said a strike by ground and cabin staff had hardly disrupted flights on Monday even though up to 5,000 cabin and ground staff took part on the first day of the open-ended industrial action.

"We have had 1,000 flights fly so far today without any major problems—no cancellations and only a few minor delays," a Lufthansa spokesman told Reuterson Monday afternoon.

Television pictures showed planes taking off as usual and departure boards indicating only short delays. Lufthansa limited the impact of the walkouts by reassigning non-striking staff and hiring outside help.

But services union Ver.di, which launched the strike at midnight (2200 GMT) German time on Sunday, said the impact of the strike would grow in coming days and that it will call out staff at more airports, including Berlin, in coming days.

"Our strike is going very well," Verdi negotiator Erhard Ott told German television, saying workers in Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, Hanover and other cities had staged walkouts. Cargo, maintenance and catering had been hit, he said.

He added that he was satisfied despite the lack of cancelled flights because the union wanted to hit Lufthansa rather than its passengers. "The emergency plan implemented by the company has cost a lot of money," Ott said.

The union said the strike would spread to the airports of Berlin, Stuttgart and Nuremberg on Tuesday.

Some analysts have put the cost of the strike at about 5 million euros (3.9 million pounds) per day for Lufthansa, Europe's second biggest airline by passenger numbers.

One ground stewardess at Hamburg airport said she didn't see why she should join the strike. "Lufthansa made a good offer. I think it's unacceptable to respond to that by striking," she said.

The union wants 9.8 percent more pay for around 50,000 ground staff and cabin grew over a period of 12 months, while Lufthansa has offered 6.7 percent for a 21-month period plus a one-off payment.

The pay dispute at the height of the holiday season has sparked fears of massive transport problems for holidaymakers.

At Frankfurt airport, Germany's largest airport, some 2,500 staff joined the strike, including 200 cargo workers, more than 900 catering staff and 600 technicians.

Ground personnel and flight crews began to walk off the job at midnight (2200 GMT) on Sunday after Ver.di members voted overwhelmingly last week for a strike.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber has said the air carrier cannot afford more than its latest offer. But unions argue that Lufthansa is well-positioned to afford the pay hike given that it earned an operating profit last year of €1.38 billion, a figure it expects to reach again in 2008.

Lufthansa has been able to maintain its targets despite growing competition among carriers and soaring jet fuel prices.

The airline is also holding separate talks with the Cockpit trade union, which represents pilots at its CityLine and Eurowings subsidiaries. Warning strikes by pilots last week (more...) forced the cancellation of around 900 flights by those carriers.

Source:Spiegel online