News / Germany

Lufthansa strike affects 315,000 passengers

Friday, 25 November 2016 10:43 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 26 November 2016 3:53 AM ]

A flight passenger stands at a counter of German airline Lufthansa at the Franz-Josef-Strauss airport in Munich, southern Germany, November 24, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

A strike by pilots at Germany’s flagship airline Lufthansa has affected a total of 315,000 passengers as stockholders fret over fears of continued industrial action.

The airline was forced to cancel around 830 more flights on Friday as the total number of the flights cancelled due to three days of a strike by the pilots reached 2,618.

The flights cancelled on Friday affected short- and medium-haul flights to domestic destinations as well as European flights, which left more than 100,000 passengers stranded, in addition to another 215,000 passengers whose travel plans had been disrupted earlier.

Furthermore, all the airline’s long-haul flights leaving Germany on Saturday will be affected until midnight by the pilots’ walkout.

The German pilots’ Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union called for the strike on Wednesday to exert pressure on Lufthansa management to resolve a long-lasting salary dispute ahead of the upcoming New Year holiday peak.

The strike, which began on Wednesday as a 24-hour strike and was extended two more times, is Lufthansa’s 14th since April 2014.

Meanwhile, the stock holders of Lufthansa, one of Europe’s biggest airlines, are concerned about the prospect of a prolonged walkout as neither the German airline management nor the pilots seem ready to compromise.

The 5,400 pilots want an average annual pay increase of 3.7 percent, in addition to five years of back pay due to halted salary increases since 2012.

Lufthansa has offered a 2.5-percent raise over six years to 2019.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr has said the carrier’s future would be on the line if pilots’ wages were raised to the level demanded.

Lufthansa says despite its record profit in 2015, it has no choice but to cut costs to compete with competitive rivals such as Ryanair and Emirates.

The airline has urged the union to enter mediation, but the union has said it wants to see a better offer first.

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