Lufthansa strikes

The German pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) said further and more widespread strikes were possible in a row with Lufthansa over early retirement benefits, as a two-day strike at the airline's Germanwings budget unit completed on Friday.

"We will first give Lufthansa time to react," VC board member Markus Wahl said.

"We are not ruling out further strikes and are considering all options, whether strikes affecting short-haul, long-haul, cargo or a combination," Wahl told Reuters, adding that calling a strike for an unspecified amount of time was also an option.

The insurrection affected 14,000 passengers, with Germanwings saying costs will amount to more than €10 million.

The strike is the eleventh by the VC pilots since last April.  Both sides, however, seem unwilling to move in the row over early retirement benefits, which Lufthansa wants to change for new starters to reflect increasing life expectancies and cut costs.

Germanwings said it operated 60%  of scheduled flights on both Thursday and Friday and that operations were normal on Saturday. www.lufthansa.com   www.vcockpit.de

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