Lufthansa pilots' strike disrupts flights across Germany

Many flights have been cancelled at German airports on Monday as pilots at Lufthansa began a new strike shortly after midnight.

Germany’s pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit has called for work stoppages at Lufthansa and several of its subsidiaries through Tuesday, citing labor disputes over the company pension plan, working conditions, and compensation at the regional subsidiary CityLine, News.Az reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

The strike by pilots at the core brand Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, and Lufthansa CityLine began shortly after midnight and is scheduled to end shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

At the holiday airline Eurowings, only departures from German airports are affected on Monday.

At major German airports, including Frankfurt and Munich, several flights were cancelled due to the 48-hour pilots’ strike, with unions expecting hundreds of flights per day to be affected.

On Sunday, Eurowings said it expected to operate “a large portion” of its flight schedule, noting that it can also rely on support from partner airlines in addition to Eurowings Europe.

This marks the fourth wave of strikes at Lufthansa this year. Just recently, strikes by cabin crew led to many flight cancellations at Germany’s largest airline.

The current strike by the Cockpit union is driven by labor disputes over the company pension plan and compensation at the regional subsidiary Cityline.

The pilots union said several routes would be exempt from the strike due to geopolitical tensions and humanitarian considerations. Flights to Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE will continue to operate.

Union President Andreas Pinheiro said the union wanted to avoid escalating tensions but accused Lufthansa of failing to present a concrete proposal.

“It doesn’t help if the other side only signals a willingness to talk but doesn’t want to discuss substantial improvements to the company pension scheme,” said Pinheiro.

Meanwhile, Arne Karstens, spokesperson for the union’s collective bargaining committee, said seven rounds of negotiations and mediation attempts had failed, and that talks would not resume until Lufthansa presents a “negotiable offer.”

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev