Status: 19.10.2022 4:40 p.m
The three-day strike by the Eurowings pilots is due to end at midnight. And after that, there is probably no threat of a new labor dispute for the time being. Because the airline and the VC union want to negotiate a compromise again.
In the dispute over relief for the pilots of the airline Eurowings, union representatives and employers want to return to the negotiating table. This means that further strikes at the airline have probably been averted, at least for the time being.
The union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) and the Lufthansa subsidiary have not yet given a specific date as to when the negotiations should continue. It was said in a joint statement that the parties had agreed not to disclose the content of the talks.
Hundreds of flights canceled due to strike
The announcement of further talks came before the official end of the current pilots’ strike, which is scheduled to end at midnight. The Eurowings pilots stopped working on Monday.
On the last of the three strike days, Eurowings said it had to cancel around 300 flights. That’s almost two-thirds of the 500 take-offs and landings actually planned for the entire Eurowings program, said a spokesman for the airline.
Compared to previous days, the airline was able to offer fewer flights than hoped. According to the statement, this depends on the lower alternative capacities of various partner airlines, which Eurowings had resorted to during the strike. Around 800 flights have been canceled at Eurowings since the beginning of the week, and more than 20,000 travelers were affected by the cancellations every day.
Rapid return to normal operations expected
With the end of the strike, the airline expects to be able to quickly return to normal operations in its own flight schedule. “We assume that we can offer normal flight operations on Thursday,” said the airline spokesman. Passengers who have booked a flight for Thursday do not have to worry. From 12:01 a.m. – shortly after the end of the strike – traffic is scheduled to run again.
Eurowings puts growth plans for 2023 on hold
In the ongoing dispute, the VC union insists on improvements in working conditions for pilots: longer rest periods, more days off and a reduction in the maximum weekly working time. Most recently, Eurowings offered ten additional free working days a year, but VC wants 14. Management is willing to reduce the maximum weekly working time by three to 52 hours, VC is demanding five hours less.
According to the company, every day of the strike costs the airline a double-digit million euro amount. Because of these unscheduled costs, the management of Eurowings Germany put its growth plans for the coming year on hold – the fleet should be smaller than previously planned and there should not be any new appointments for the cockpit and cabin for the time being.