A go-slow by West German flight controllers on Wednesday (11 July) brought delays and cancellations at Frankfurt Airport, the country's largest.

By mid-morning some 50 outgoing flights had either been cancelled or delayed and a further 50 incoming flights diverted. The flight controllers staged the go-slow in support of better pay and conditions almost six-weeks ago. So far it has caused losses estimated at some 100-million marks (16-million sterling) for the West German Airline, Lufthansa, travel agencies, holiday operators and airports.

A Frankfurt Airport spokesman said of Wednesday's stoppage that all flights except those to Berlin were grounded for over an hour during the morning when all but three of the airport's flight controllers failed to report for duty.

West German Transport Minister Lauritz Lauritzen on Wednesday ordered that the Air Traffic Authority withhold the pay of Airport Controllers who failed to report for work that morning.

In Bonn, the Federal Capital, the Transport Minister said the fact that other airports in West Germany were working normally showed that only a small group of traffic controllers wanted to continue their "illegal and irresponsible" behaviour.

The controllers, who are government employees are not permitted to strike. Reporting sick has been their most frequent tactic.