The German carrier Lufthansa (ETR:LHA) has cancelled hundreds of flights on Tuesday. This is amid a two-day strike throughout a longer pay dispute, costing the carrier hundreds of millions of euros.
The dispute lies between Lufhansa and the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit, which has organised 14 strikes in the past two years.
Pilots’ from Vereinigung Cockpit are asking for an average annual pay rise of 3.7 percent for 5,400 pilots over a five-year period backdated to 2012. So far, the German carrier has only agreed to increase the pilots’ pay by 4.4 percent in two instalments and make a one-off payment worth 1.8 months’ pay.
Bettina Volkens, a Lufthansa spokesperson has said: “We have to talk.”
“I hope very much that [Vereinigung Cockpit] finally changes its uncompromising stance. This cannot be forced via strikes.” she added.
Joerg Handwerg, a board member at Vereinigung Cockpit, has said: “Unfortunately, high-level talks held today at short notice failed to lead to an agreement on the wage contract. It is completely incomprehensible that (Lufthansa) has refused to put forward an offer that can at least form the basis of a negotiation.”
Lufthansa has estimated that the strike is costing about £10 million a day and affected 350,000 customers last week alone, through the cancellation of 2,800 flights.
The walkout on Tuesday will affect short-haul flights, where 816 of 3,000 will be cancelled. Wednesday’s walkout plans to affect both short and long-term flights, affecting thousands more passengers.
Chief executive of Lufthansa, Carsten Spohr, is concerned about Lufthansa’s future amid ongoing strikes, and meeting the pilots’ demands would make many routes unprofitable.
“We stand no chance to survive,” he said. “There is no more leeway for even better offers when escalation is what is wanted, as opposed to a solution.”
Passengers flying with Lufthansa should know that European Union regulations require airlines to offer either a full refund of the unused parts of your tickets or to re-route passengers to their destination.