THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled at Berlins’s two airports, causing further misery for passengers already hit by industrial action last week.
Ground staff downed tools once more on Monday in a dispute over pay.
Initially a one-day walkout, it has now been extended to Wednesday morning.
A spokesman for Berlin airports said that almost all flights were cancelled on Monday — 194 at Schoenefeld and 448 in Tegel.
“I feel like I have been taken hostage,” said stranded German passenger Karl Koenigstaedt, who had been hoping to go to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
“I would like to fly on holiday and, as always with rail strikes and other strikes, those who suffer are the travellers.”
“I am just sitting here waiting for someone to show up and hopefully get some more information than what we already had, that is: no airplanes today,” said Portuguese would-be passenger Teresa Paive, also waiting to fly from Berlin’s Tegel Airport.
Ground staff jobs include checking in passengers, loading and unloading planes and directing aircraft on the tarmac.
Last Friday, the strike led to the cancellation of nearly 700 flights, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded in the German capital.
Felix Dappah with Reuters report
