Lufthansa strike

Once again Lufthansa passengers will suffer as, at very short notice, the airlines pilot union has called an official strike.  The dispute is mainly over retirement benefits. A special timetable has been published on the LH website.

The union, Vereinigung Cockpit, said in a statement the strike will start today (Monday 20 October) at 11:00 GMT and would end at 21:59 GMT on Tuesday, and would affect Lufthansa’s Airbus 320 family,  Boeing  737 and Embraer ‘planes.

Lufthansa said it is still working to see how many flights will be cancelled.  Long-haul services and those operated by Lufthansa group airlines Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Germanwings, SWISS and Air Dolomiti will not be affected, the company said.

The strike is the second to hit Lufthansa in a week. On Oct. 16, pilots of Lufthansa unit Germanwings went on a 12-hour strike to protest the change in retirement benefits.  Amongst other points operations into Stansted were disrupted.

Under current rules, Lufthansa pilots can retire at age 55 and receive 60% of their salary. The European Union recently changed pilot-licensing rules, allowing them to fly until age 65. Lufthansa has said the change made its early-retirement benefits obsolete. www.lh.com

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