2 months Ago
Flight Delays Affecting Thousands
The strike began at 8:00 a.m. and lasted until 10:00 a.m., but the impact lasted beyond that two-hour timeframe. With over 100 cancellations, Schiphol Airport requested that passengers check their flight status before coming to the airport to prevent unnecessary difficulty.
KLM has assured that its teams are working around the clock to re-book travelers and, where possible, assist their customers to reach their final destination.
Firstly, we are putting in the utmost effort to re-book all passengers so that they arrive at their final destinations as soon as possible, the KLM statement read. Recovery is a continuous effort that is not only based on re-booking passengers but is also dependent upon locating available flight crews, ground handling personnel, and available aircraft.
KLM noted that while the strike only lasted two hours, the ongoing effects of the flight schedule will impact their business over the course of several days. Travelers may still be faced with delays, cancellations, and alterations to rebookings throughout the week.
Wage and Agreement Dispute
The strike was called out by trade unions FNV and CNR, actually fighting for an improved collective bargaining agreement for ground crew employees.
Their biggest demand is a sufficient wage rise to account for the increased inflation, which they claim KLM has failed to address.
KLM reached agreements with three other unions as of last week. FNV and CNV refused the last proposal, arguing that KLM did not fulfill their minimum requests and compelled them to move towards industrial action.
Leaders of the union were clear that it was not an easy decision to call out the strike. They acknowledged the potential disruptions for travelers, but said it was a necessary action for which FNV and CNV tried their best to avoid. “We cannot accept
that KLM is raising remuneration for pilots and management, while the ground crew suffers from continued loss of purchasing power,” union leaders said.
Both FNV and CNV made it clear they are willing to speak again if KLM comes back to the table on the back of their core demands being addressed. Until then, more strikes are a possibility. FNV has scheduled another strike for Wednesday, September 17, and would create additional chaos at the airport.
The impact to travelers are uncertain asSeveral thousand passengers were impacted in a single day with the cancellation of the strike. The only thing that the airline could do right now was report canceled flights, rebook passengers on flights with available seats in the following days and weeks, and cancel flights that did not reappear for each passenger.
Unfortunate, however, is that other passengers are not so fortunate and wait days and in some cases weeks until they reach their destinations.
The airport strike details have ensued the unfortunate circumstances and highlighted how airline travel is finely balanced by the airline operation. The ground transport crew provides essential support, keeping flights in the air but not limited to handling, preparation, and ultimately the launch and departure of an airline for flights. It is when that function gets out of reciprocal balance that the airline's landing schedule will fail.
Today's air transportation challenges have impacted everyone. Airline industry analysts state that any potential airline industry dispute could result in a wider domino effect, where canceled flights cause transportation and positioning issues with the repositioning of planes, availability or required staff to handle the flight schedules, then cause staff shortages and other logistical bottlenecks, primarily grounded to schedules being in disarray for several days.
Certainly, KLM has commented to the public that they are seeking to limit the impact to passengers as much as possible, but the big picture scope of this matter scarcely allows them a way to exert leverage over the resulting aftershocks caused by this action.
The Schiphol Airport has recommended that any traveler embarking on a journey is prudent to consult live updates prior to your journey, and KLM has certainly advised customers to check updates prior to flying as well, which at least tells travelers what current inconvenience they can potentially face.
Moving Forward
Next and there is another air traffic control strike set again for September 17, the relationship between KLM and its ground transport team members reflects the high levels of anxiety that apply to every airport situation, and boarding procedures are troubling.
Unite members are hoping to reach dignify positions; however, as long as a clear labor dispute is not concluded, KLM's disruption is seen as not giving in succumbing to whatever the workers or their elected representatives consider entitlement, regardless of the cost and the fallout to fellow travelers.
For all travelers, this unfortunate incident is yet another reason and reminder that when labor disputes are intertwined within airline operational staff schedules, it creates several potential problems for the airlines.
KLM next have has advised to wait and stay patient, its ramp team is working on some logjam issues processing through workloads. To the effect, delays from strikes of tens of thousands of passengers have shown that the airlines and their employees have an exhaustive essential extension of their supportkeeping fly flying with schedules.
