Lufthansa’s flights are set for more major disruption this week after pilots and cabin crew unions called further short notice strikes.
The UFO union, which represents cabin crew, announced a 48-hour strike for Wednesday and Thursday (15-16 April) in its dispute over pay and working conditions. UFO members previously walked out on Friday (10 April).
Meanwhile, pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) has announced it will also strike on Thursday and Friday (16-17 April) — the union has only just finished its previous two-day stoppage on Monday and Tuesday (13-14 April). VC is in dispute with Lufthansa over the airline’s pension arrangements for pilots. The union cited a lack of progress in negotiations with the airline for its latest walkout.
The two additional strikes mean that Lufthansa and its Lufthansa CityLine subsidiary will have suffered strikes on six consecutive weekdays. Hundreds of flights had to be cancelled on both Monday and Tuesday.
“Lufthansa is working intensively to keep the impact on passengers as low as possible. We are trying to have as many flights as possible operated by other airlines within the Lufthansa Group and by partner airlines,” said the airline in an online update. “However, despite these efforts, flight cancellations are unavoidable.”
Sister carrier Eurowings’s flights are also being affected by the VC strike this week. But other group airlines, including regional carrier Lufthansa City Airlines, are not affected by the industrial action.
Eurowings said in a statement that flights departing from German airports on Thursday (16 April) would be affected by the VC strike but the airline still expected to “operate a large proportion” of its flight schedule.