All passenger flights were canceled at Berlin Brandenburg airport (BER) on Wednesday, as staff walked out in a dispute over higher pay.
About 300 flights were canceled or rescheduled, the airport said, affecting about 35,000 passengers.
The “warning strike” was called by the powerful Verdi union to increase the pressure before the next round of negotiations with the boss.
The union said around 1,500 airport employees would join the walkout.
Verdi is pushing for a 500 euro ($440) monthly salary increase over 12 months for ground crew. For security personnel, want higher bonus payments for weekend and holiday hours.
“Everyone knows about the higher prices, be it for food or at gas stations,” Verdi representative Holger Roessler told German media.
German inflation fell to 8.6 percent in December after peaking at 10.4 percent in October, mainly due to government aid measures to reduce energy costs.
Late last year, Germany’s largest trade union IG Metall won approval for an 8.5 percent pay rise covering nearly four million workers in the industrial sector after carrying out a series of warning strikes.