Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Lufthansa Grounds Flights as Pilots Strike: Airline Lays on Extra Staff to Help Passengers

The Wall Street Journal
By Caitlan Reeg
April 2, 2014 5:06 a.m. ET

FRANKFURT— Deutsche Lufthansa AG pilots began what could become the longest walkout in the airline's history Wednesday, grounding 3,800 flights over the next three days, in a protest over changes to retirement benefits.

Germany's national carrier began warning passengers of the strike, expected to cost it tens of millions of euros, earlier this week.

Lufthansa, which is also Europe's largest airline by passenger traffic, has increased the number of staff working at Frankfurt and Munich airports to help travelers rebook flights on other airlines or with the Germany's national railway operator Deutsche Bahn. The airline said as many as 425,000 passengers would be affected.

The strike is set to have a major impact on Lufthansa's main passenger business, as well as its cargo operations and its short-haul, no-frills Germanwings passenger carrier.

While the airline has canceled 3,800 flights in anticipation of the strike, it will operate about 500 Lufthansa and Germanwings flights and eight of the 31 cargo flights, the airline said.

The strike comes after pilots union members voted overwhelmingly this month in favor of industrial action in protest at changes to retirement benefits.

Vereinigung Cockpit represents between 85% and 90% of the 5,400 pilots who fly for Lufthansa and its cargo and Germanwings units.

The union is protesting against changes to retirement benefits for flight personnel that include raising the retirement age and requiring new pilots to pay into a transitional retirement fund.

Source:  http://online.wsj.com