Lufthansa Cancels Nearly 1,000 Flights as Cabin Crew Strike
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Germany’s biggest airline Lufthansa faces more aviation chaos Monday, cancelling hundreds of domestic and European flights as cabin crew said they would resume a strike in a battle over cost cuts.
The stoppage – part of rolling industrial action the union threatened to continue until Friday – was due to hit Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich airports on Monday, the UFO flight attendants’ union said.
Lufthansa said it would cancel 929 of the day’s 3,000 scheduled flights to or from the three cities, affecting 113,000 passengers, but that about 70% of its normal services would operate, AFP reported.
The airline also said its executive board would Monday discuss the “consequences” of the strike, which it called “unprecedented in the history of Lufthansa”, and issue a statement to employees and the public around 5pm GMT.
“Lufthansa has today reaffirmed that it is ready to resume talks,” it said in a statement.
The carrier voiced regret about the strike, apologized to customers and said it would publish new flight plans on www.lh.com and inform passengers of the status of their bookings by email and SMS.
Frankfurt, Germany’s main air hub, and Dusseldorf were to be hit by work stoppages from 3.30am to 10pm, and Munich from 3.30am to 11pm GMT, the union said on its website on Sunday.
UFO last Thursday said industrial action had become “unavoidable” after airline management failed to come up with an improved offer in a dispute over pay and early retirement provisions.
The union is demanding that a current system of early retirement provisions remain unchanged.
Lufthansa has argued that the system is too expensive in the face of competition from low-cost operators such as Ryanair and easyJet.
