A new round of strike action at Lufthansa is expected to lead to the cancellation of a total of 1,000 flights today (Tuesday, 12 March) and tomorrow (Wednesday, 13 March) at Frankfurt and Munich airports, the German carrier has announced.
Amid strike action over airline cabin crew wage negotiations, starting this morning, 600 flights are expected to be cancelled today at Frankfurt, Germany’s busiest airport, while 400 flights will be cancelled on Wednesday at Munich, also a major travel hub. As a result around 120,000 passengers will be affected, a Lufthansa spokesman said.
The UFO union, which represents cabin crew at the airline, has called on some 19,000 Lufthansa and Lufthansa subsidiary CityLine flight attendants to go on strike. According to the union, all departures from Frankfurt today and all departures from Munich on Wednesday will be cancelled.
The flight attendants of Lufthansa and its subsidiary Cityline had previously voted in favour of the strike in two separate ballots, garnering over 96% each.
UFO is demanding a 15% pay rise for the approximately 18,000 people who make up Lufthansa’s cabin crew and CityLine’s nearly 1,000 employees, with an 18-month contract duration. The union is also seeking an inflation adjustment allowance of €3,000 and higher bonuses.
According to the websites of Munich and Frankfurt airports, passengers should contact Lufthansa to be informed about flight cancellations. The status of flights will be regularly updated on the respective airport websites.
UFO pointed out that the group had just on Thursday announced a record net profit result of almost 1.7 billion euros – the third best in its history.
It is recalled that in the collective agreement, especially the lower wage groups were increased, while the inflation compensation allowance was postponed to the current round of collective bargaining.
The latest strikes at Lufthansa come in the midst of the strike announced for today by the engine drivers at the national railway company Deutsche Bahn.
