Geneva International Airport, Switzerland’s second largest, was unusually quiet today, the first day of the summer holidays, due to a historic strike by airline staff that grounded all flights until mid-morning.

The strike, which concerns critical services, is directed against the reform of the salary policy, which the management is seeking.

According to today’s estimate, around 8,000 passengers were to face problems on their departure from Geneva due to the four-hour strike.

More than 60 flights were canceled as the airport management decided to temporarily stop operations from 07:00 to 11:00 (Greece time).

In front of the doors of the airport’s main building, numerous police and security personnel were only letting in passengers who were due to fly out late in the morning, as well as journalists.

Inside the airport there is calm. The trade unionists – around fifty – have for their part placed their red flags in front of the main entrance of the airport to explain their demands.

This strike is historic, as it is the first involving staff at Quadrens Airport who are employed under a public law contract (and are not external partners, who are also vital to the operation of the airport) in 104 years of its history, underlines the newspaper Le Temps.