Why are Lufthansa pilots striking?

German – On Friday, Lufthansa pilots will go on strike over an ongoing wage dispute. Germany’s Lufthansa said it would have to cancel 800 flights on Friday, likely affecting 130,000 passengers, after the pilots’ union went on a one-day strike.

Strikes and staff shortages have already forced airlines, including Lufthansa, to cancel thousands of flights this summer. Last month, the German airline struck a payroll deal with ground staff, vowing to reduce the number of strikes.

However, the airline recently confirmed that it will remove some flights from its winter schedule until March 26, 2023 due to staffing issues.

Lufthansa said the flight cancellations would affect Frankfurt and Munich airports, adding that several flights would also have to be canceled on Thursday.

VC is demanding a 5.5% pay increase this year for its over 5,000 pilots and automatic inflation compensation thereafter.

“We have not received a sufficient offer… This is sobering and a missed opportunity,” says VC spokesman Matthias Bayer.

“We hope to get back to negotiations as soon as possible,” he added, “However, we cannot bear the cost increases associated with VC’s demands either,”.

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Strikes and staff shortages have already forced airlines, including Lufthansa, to cancel thousands of flights this summer and have caused hours of queues at major airports, frustrating holidaymakers looking to travel after the Covid-19 lockdown.

The airline said it was doing its best to minimize the impact of Friday’s pilot strike, but could not rule out cancellations or delays in some cases over the weekend.

The airline’s shares fell 3.5% at 9:30 GMT.

Lufthansa offered a total of €900 ($901.35) more than base pay per month in two installments over an 18-month period, as well as an agreement guaranteeing flight deck personnel a minimum fleet size.

Germany’s cartel office on Thursday also barred Lufthansa from terminating long-term cooperation agreements with charter airline Condor until further notice, saying the national carrier is preventing Condor from competing on long-haul routes.

Lufthansa said it took a note of the cartel office’s decision, adding: “However, we do not share the Bundeskartellamt’s view and will therefore submit the decision to a judicial review.”