Strikes began at 11 major German airports just after midnight on Monday, with public service workers, ground staff and aviation security.

They were all called out for 24 hours by the verdi trade union in two different wage disputes, as further strikes in facilities operated by the Federal Government and the local authorities are also to go ahead this week.

The next round of pay talks, the third, has been scheduled for Potsdam near Berlin on Friday.

The pay strike aimed to paralyse air transport across much of Germany, with the ADV airport association predicting that more than 3,400 flights would be cancelled and 510,000 passengers unable to board as scheduled.

The public sector strike, which has been planned since Friday, will be joined by employees in the aviation security sector, which include people who work in passenger control, personnel, goods and freight control as well as service areas.

A new collective labour agreement is currently being negotiated for them, as the next round of negotiations is scheduled for March 26 and 27.

According to German air traffic control, around 6,000 flight movements take place daily at German airports, with a further 3,000 passing through German airspace.

Verdi has called out public service workers and the ground staff who clean, load and refuel the aircraft at the main hub at Frankfurt, along with the airports at Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne/Bonn.

Others are Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin-Brandenburg and Leipzig-Halle.

At the airports of Weeze and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, only employees in the aviation security sector have been called to strike.

No passengers will be able to board at Frankfurt, Germany’s busiest airport, and transit flights are almost certain to be affected according to airport operator Fraport.

On Monday, 1,170 take-offs with a total of around 150,000 passengers were scheduled, as Airport operators urged the passengers not to travel to terminals.