Immediately before Christmas, the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) called on its members to go on a warning strike at the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines. All departures from Germany are to be on strike between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., as the union announced on Friday. The holiday airline, founded in 2021, has 24 Airbus aircraft and takes off from the Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.
At the time in question, there are eleven Discover flights on Frankfurt’s timetable, including to long-haul destinations in Florida and the Dominican Republic. In Munich the company operates under Lufthansa flight numbers. The number of passengers affected initially remained unclear. A spokeswoman said they are working hard to keep the consequences for guests as low as possible with a replacement flight plan. According to the union, the reason for the warning strike is the stalled negotiations surrounding the first collective agreement for pilots at the still young subsidiary. The employer and union were now well on the way to reaching at least a partial agreement, the VC said the day before. However, the employers had until the end “used a stalling tactic by pulling concessions off the table and at the same time demanding new conditions for tariff classification,” criticized the VC.
You need safe framework conditions for the cockpit staff. On Friday, however, the company spoke of “very good advanced discussions”. We are on the home stretch towards concluding a collective agreement. “Partial agreements have already been reached and there is a clear intention to continue negotiations in January and to reach a conclusion quickly,” said a spokeswoman. Solutions can only be found at the negotiating table and we are ready to continue the joint discussions at any time.