Passengers stranded in Geneva as airport strike continues

A strike at Geneva airport disrupted travel for thousands of passengers on Friday, fueling fresh concern that protests and labor shortages will cause another summer of travel chaos in Europe.

The strike, which initially grounded flights between 6:00 a.m. and 10 a.m. and was expected to affect about 8,000 passengers, was extended through the rest of Saturday, airport officials said. While Geneva reopened the runway, it did so mainly for intercontinental flights, with passengers still facing cancellations and delays. The airport’s website, which had become difficult to access in the late morning, showed mostly canceled or delayed flights for the remainder of the day.

Airport personnel are protesting against a new remuneration policy approved Thursday by the board of directors. Airport authorities said they met with unions early today to make various proposals, which were turned down.

So far today, 69 flights were canceled and 17 managed to take off. Another 25 are currently preparing to take off and 15 have landed, a Geneva airport spokeswoman said, adding that she had no visibility on how much longer the protests might last. About 54,000 passengers were initially planned to pass through Geneva Airport on Saturday, another media representative said.

Geneva Airport, which borders on France, is a hub for international travel and an important base for airlines including EasyJet Plc, Air France-KLM, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG-owned Swiss International. 

About 2,000 Swiss International passengers were affected by the initial four hours of strike action, the airline said. EasyJet initially canceled 20 flights and rescheduled another 14, a spokesman said. 

“Strikes have posed particular challenges to Swiss and its personnel this year,” Swiss International said. “Never before has our company had to cancel so many flights in various European countries as a result of strike action.”

Geneva and other European airports have been affected this year by a series of protests by French air traffic controllers. The latest one hit three smaller French airports on Thursday, which forced Ryanair Holdings Plc to cancel all flights at its main Paris-Beauvais airfield.