Flight cancellations at Hamburg Airport after a surprise strike by workers affected more than 40,000 passengers on Sunday, a day before a planned wider protest across Germany amid new contract negotiations.

Only 10 of more than 280 scheduled flights went as planned early Sunday, the airport said. Many service desks sat empty as would-be passengers lined up to seek information about the cancellations.

The surprise walkout, which reportedly took place with only about a half-hour advance notice, came before a broader series of preannounced strikes across 13 airports in Germany on Monday, organized by the ver.di union.

 On Friday, Berlin’s airport cancelled all of its flights for Monday ahead of the strike, which is expected to impact more than half a million travellers and thousands of flights at 11 airports across Germany.

The union, which represents airport ground staff,  said workers would walk out at the airports that service Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt/Main, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin-Brandenburg and Leipzig-Halle.

More than 510,000 travellers could see delays or cancellations of their flights, according to airport association ADV. An estimated 3,400 flights are expected to be cancelled throughout the day.

The union’s negotiators demand better working conditions, higher wages and additional days off, among other things.

In addition to massive travel disruptions, the strike could also have a major economic impact on hotels, restaurants and retailers, ADV said.

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