150 flights affected by Budapest airport strike

Unions of ground handling crews at Ferihegy Airport began a two-day strike Thursday afternoon that is expected to cause big delays and a number of flight cancellations today and tomorrow. Six flights were cancelled Thursday night and delays affected some 40 flights, airport spokesman Domokos Szollár said, adding that 150-160 flights could be cancelled or delayed.

Sky Europe and Malév flights are not affected, as these airlines have their own ground handling services. Airlines serviced by Malév ground crews are also unaffected. These are: Aeroflot, AerLingus, Air Berlin, Air France, Austrian Airlines, CSA, EgyptAir, Finnair, Hainan, KLM, LOT, SAS and Tarom.

The affected airlines include Aerosvit, Alitalia, British Airways, Delta Airlines, EasyJet, Germanwings, Jet2, Lufthansa, Luxair, Norwegian Air, Pulkovo Airlines, SmartWings, Sterling, Swiss, Travel Service, and Turkish Airlines.

Unions announced a strike from 2:30 p.m. Thursday until 2:30 p.m. Saturday. As the situation is constantly changing, the airport operator is advising travellers to confirm the status of their flights at www.bud.hu or with their airline, Szollár added.

The Air Travel Workers Independent Union announced the strike Thursday afternoon after wage talks with ground service company Celebi failed to produce results. Celebi has proposed a 4% base wage rise and a 3% performance-based increase. Employees are holding out for a 10% base wage rise and a 5% performance-based increase, with unchanged shifts.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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