Status: 05.10.2022 12:51 p.m
Around 30,000 passengers are likely to be affected by the pilots’ strike at Eurowings. The low-cost airline subsidiary of Lufhansa assumes that only around half of the planned flights will start tomorrow.
The all-day strike by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots’ union at Eurowings Germany scheduled for tomorrow could paralyze every second flight and thus affect around 30,000 passengers. Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary announced today that it would be possible to implement around half of the normal program of around 500 flights.
However, the airline will do everything possible to minimize the impact of the strike on passengers. You can also fall back on partners in the Lufthansa Group.
Passengers should be informed by the afternoon
Eurowings consists of two flight operations, it said. Only flights from Eurowings Germany are affected by the planned 24-hour industrial action, not those from Eurowings Europe. The company asks passengers to keep themselves informed about the status of their flight on the website www.eurowings.com or via the Eurowings customer app. Travelers whose flight is canceled due to a strike should be informed about travel alternatives by this afternoon at the latest.
The Cockpit Association announced yesterday that negotiations on the general wage agreement at the Lufthansa subsidiary had failed. Ten rounds of talks would not have led to any significant rapprochement. The walkout is scheduled to begin at midnight and end at 11:59 p.m. Eurowings criticized the announced strike as disproportionate and irresponsible.
Union criticizes pilots’ workload
The VC is concerned with the conflict about better working conditions. A central requirement is the relief of employees, for example by reducing the maximum flight duty times and increasing rest times. There have been no adjustments since 2015. At the same time, the workload has increased significantly, the union said. “The employer regularly exhausts the working time of the colleagues up to the permissible maximum, that can’t be a permanent situation.”
The union regrets the restrictions on passengers. However, due to the lack of accommodation on the part of the management, the only option left at the moment is to enforce the demands with a labor dispute. Eurowings personnel manager Kai Duve criticized this as excessive “in times when millions of people are afraid of a cold winter and the next heating bill”.
“The demands would make 20 percent of our flights impossible and thus endanger the future of flight operations and their employees,” warned the airline manager. Eurowings already offers employment conditions that are among the best among comparable European airlines.