Air Traffic Strike Grounds Bucharest Airport

Dozens of flights, takeoffs and landings were delayed on Wednesday at Bucharest's Henri Coanda International Airport after air traffic controllers went on strike for two hours.

The strike by the 600 air controllers of the Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration was the first such strike in 20 years. By law, air controllers must monitor a third of the normal air traffic even during a strike.

The strikers' 14 demands include wage increases and the right of traffic controllers to move to other positions inside the company after they reach the age limit of 55 years.

Fourteen flights, most of them international, were delayed by the action.

Henri Coanda Airport is the largest of Bucharest's two airports. It handled 1.8 million passengers in the first quarter of 2015, up 15 per cent over the same period last year. It also recorded 21,532 landings and takeoffs.

Some 30 airlines currently operate from the Henri Coanda airport and fly passengers to 70 destinations.