Pilots’ strike ends: Lufthansa hopes for normal flight operations

After Lufthansa had to cancel more than 800 flights due to the strike of its pilots on Friday, it is hoping for normal operations today. As announced by the union, the walkout ended promptly at midnight.

After the one-day pilots’ strike, Lufthansa wants to return to normal air traffic today. The work stoppages ended as announced at midnight – more than 800 flights had to be canceled on Friday. The first departures from the Frankfurt and Munich hubs are scheduled for the early morning.

As a precaution, Lufthansa canceled almost all of the core company’s flights with 130,000 affected passengers on Friday. With this strategy, a normal and stable flight plan should be achieved by today’s restart. It is the last weekend of the school holidays in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.

Union demands better offer

The union Vereinigung Cockpit called for the walkout. She wants to enforce her wage demands in the ongoing wage dispute. The VC demands 5.5 percent more wages by the end of the year and from January 2023 a further compensation above inflation. According to Lufthansa, this means a wage increase of a good 16 percent over a proposed period of two years. In addition, the VC demands a new salary table with higher basic salaries and more money for sick days, holidays or training. In total, these demands would increase personnel costs by around 900 million euros, according to Lufthansa.