BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Flights from Budapest airport resumed on Wednesday afternoon despite a strike by two unions for better working conditions, which caused serious delays and flight cancellations earlier in the day.
"Traffic is proceeding, I cannot tell how long it will last," Budapest Airport spokesman Domokos Szollar said.
"I hope this momentum will carry us into the evening, but it's difficult to tell."
Szollar said outbound traffic was proceeding with minor delays, while incoming flights were uninterrupted, adding that 48 of the 248 flights scheduled for the day had been cancelled.
Passengers were unable to board most morning flights as passenger security controls were not operating. Workers are demanding a new collective agreement and a halt to layoffs from Budapest Airport, operated by Germany's Hochtief AG.
A union representative was quoted on private broadcaster InfoRadio as saying strikers would press on with the action.
The two unions involved in the strike are also demanding fewer overtime hours and a new collective agreement. They said in a statement they were seeking agreement with the management.
"The strike was triggered by final distress (of workers) as the German management violates labour rights on a daily basis in a way which is unacceptable in the EU, and ... keeps workers in fear," the unions said.
Budapest Airport said halting structural changes at the firm, which began in 2006, was not acceptable. It said it was ready to continue talks about a new collective agreement.
"They (the unions) say that the restructuring of Budapest Airport should stop. This is nonsense," Szollar said.
He said the company has laid off 100 people out of its 1,600 strong work force since 2005, and 800 of its staff now work at firms which Budapest Airport has outsourced or divested. The company also took on new staff this year.
Budapest Airport handled 8.6 million passengers last year.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
