Budapest - Workers at Budapest's Ferihegy International Airport went on strike at 6 am on Wednesday in protest over working conditions and amid fears of redundancies.

A few aircraft were able to take off in the early hours, but at around 7 am security staff joined the strike, effectively stopping passengers from proceeding to the boarding gates.

Domokos Szollar, a spokesman for the airport operator Budapest Airport, said that a new team of security personnel was due to start work at 11 am and it is hoped some of them would be prepared to work. Incoming flights had not been affected so far.

A spokeswoman for the national airline Malev said that eight flights had departed in the early morning, but others were uncertain due to the action by security staff.

Budapest Airport is advising ticket holders to contact their airlines for more information.

Two airport workers' unions yesterday pledged to go on strike over plans for restructuring at the airport.

Workers are unhappy with management proposals for changes to working conditions, and are demanding reassurances that there will be no redundancies before 2010.

"The workers are prepared to hold out for several days if no agreement is reached over conditions," warned Zoltan Kovacs, the leader of the strike committee for one of the main airport workers' unions, after failed negotiations on Tuesday. (dpa)