Lufthansa flights cancelled due to fresh strike

A fresh strike by pilots of German airline Lufthansa has forced the flag-carrier to cancel around half of its scheduled domestic and European flights.

Lufthansa announced Tuesday that 750 short- and medium-haul flights out of a total of 1,400 would be cancelled due to the new 24-hour walkout by pilots.

This industrial action will be the 12th walkout since last April in relation to a long-running dispute between the pilots and management over plans to change the pilots’ transitional pension arrangements.

Currently, pilots can retire at 55 and receive up to 60 percent of their pay until they reach the statutory retirement age of 65. Lufthansa management wants to remove the early retirement arrangement against the pilots’ will.

The pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit, called for the stoppage between 2301 GMT on Tuesday and 2259 GMT on Wednesday to push the point.

Lufthansa has condemned the pilots’ action, saying around 80,000 passengers would be affected by the strike. The company’s personnel chief, Bettina Volkens, described the industrial action as “completely disproportionate.”

However, Lufthansa said its long-haul services, as well as flights operated by its subsidiaries including Germanwings, Eurowings and Air Dolomiti, and Swiss and Austrian Airlines will not be affected by the one-day strike.

Media reports say Lufthansa pilots earn between USD 63,000 to more than twice that amount annually, depending on rank and seniority.