Lufthansa is facing fresh disruption after its pilots’ union called a two-day strike in Germany starting Monday, escalating an ongoing dispute over salaries and pensions at Europe’s biggest air transport group.
The industrial action, announced on Saturday by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union, will affect flights operated by Lufthansa’s main airline as well as its subsidiaries CityLine and Eurowings. Lufthansa Cargo will also be hit.
The strike has already led to more than 500 flight cancellations, disrupting travel plans for around 72,000 passengers. Major delays and cancellations were reported at Lufthansa’s key hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, causing significant knock-on effects across the airline’s network.
Lufthansa has already been hit by four
strikes this year, the most recent on Friday, organised by the UFO union. That walkout targeted Lufthansa and CityLine and led to the cancellation of about 90 percent of flights at the two airlines, according to UFO.
The latest action by VC marks the first pilots’ strike affecting Lufthansa since March and comes amid ongoing tensions between management and staff over pay and retirement benefits.
However, the pilots’ union said it would exempt certain routes from the stoppage due to the situation in the Middle East. Flights to Azerbaijan, Egypt, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will continue to operate, the union said.
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