Lufthansa strike

The German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) has said that it is likely to call for further strikes at Lufthansa as a long-running row continues.

The dispute revolves around an early retirement scheme and Lufthansa's plans to expand its low-cost operations to win back market share lost to the likes of Ryanair and easyJet, which are expanding in Germany.

Ten strikes staged by VC last year cost the airline close to €200m in operating profit and affected hundreds of thousands of passengers.

In December, the pilots said that they were prepared to enter mediation to resolve the dispute, but only if it included all areas of conflict with management.

Lufthansa rejected that demand, however, saying that it was willing to expand talks beyond just early retirement benefits, but that low-cost expansion was not up for discussion.  Also in contention is a 55 retirement opportunity.   www.lufthansa.com

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