A two-day pilot strike at Lufthansa got underway on Thursday, with multiple flights cancelled at Frankfurt Airport and Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) from the early morning hours, as shown on the airports' websites.
The pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) called on Tuesday for 48-hour strikes across Lufthansa's core brand, its cargo subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo, and regional carrier Cityline. The strike is set to run until Friday at 23:59. VC confirmed that flights operating to and from crisis regions in the Middle East will not be affected by the strike action.
Flights from Germany to the Middle East are equally exempt from the walkout. Lufthansa has clarified that the union's decision to exempt flights to the region due to the current geopolitical situation specifically concerns one flight from Frankfurt to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, which was scheduled for Thursday.
Lufthansa criticised the "very short-notice announcement" as "extremely harsh and disproportionate." This is not the first time the airline has faced industrial action from its pilots, cockpit crews had already staged a strike on 12 February, adding to a pattern of repeated disruption that has frustrated both the airline and its passengers.
Despite the walkout, Lufthansa said on Wednesday in Frankfurt that it will be able to maintain more than half of its overall flight programme during the strike period. On long-haul routes specifically, the airline said the share of maintained flights stands "at 60 percent." The situation at Lufthansa Cargo is somewhat less severe, the freight division will need to cancel only 20 percent of its flights scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
According to Lufthansa, "numerous flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich" will be taken over by other airlines within the Lufthansa Group as well as by partner airlines during the strike days. "In addition, larger aircraft will be deployed on strike days to carry more passengers," the airline added, in a further effort to minimise the impact on travellers.
Lufthansa said customers will be notified "proactively by email" if their flight is affected by the strike. "Guests who are not contacted can for the time being assume that their flight is not affected," the airline said. Passengers are nonetheless advised to independently check their current flight status on the airline's website or via the Lufthansa app, particularly as the situation may develop over the course of the strike period.
The dispute at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo centres on company pension arrangements, with the union and management having failed to reach an agreement on occupational retirement provisions. At Lufthansa Cityline, the conflict is separate, there the union and management are at odds over an entirely new collective pay agreement. The two disputes reflect broader tensions between Lufthansa's management and its cockpit crews that have been simmering for some time.
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