Lufthansa pilots to strike again on long-haul tomorrow

BERLIN: Germany's national carrier Lufthansa is set to be hit after a leading pilots' union said they would strike on long-haul and cargo flights tomorrow, after a two- day stoppage stranded thousands of passengers of Europe's biggest airline.

Shortly before their strike ended at midnight last night, the pilots' trade union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) said their industrial action will resume at 3 am local time tomorrow and will continue until midnight.

Lufthansa's domestic and medium-haul European flights as well as the services of its subsidiary Germanwings will not be affected by the strike, which will be limited to the airline's international and cargo flights, the union said in a release.

Lufthansa said it expected its domestic and European flights to return to normal operations today after the ninth strike this year called by the trade union in a dispute over the pilots' pre-retirement benefits forced the airline to ground around 1,400 flights on Monday and Tuesday.

It estimated that more than 150,000 passengers have been affected by the two-day strike.

The airline will publish a special flight schedule for its international flights tomorrow to enable as many passengers as possible to reach their destinations, it said in a statement.

The latest strike was called by the union representing around 5,400 Lufthansa pilots after a new round of negotiations with the management to resolve their long-running dispute broke down in Frankfurt over the weekend.

VC said it decided to resume the strike tomorrow as the negotiations showed "substantial differences" with the management.

The pilots launched their industrial action in April to force the airline to keep its present pre-retirement scheme for pilots, which allows them to retire at the age of 55 and receive 60 per cent of their last salary until they reach the retirement age.

Lufthansa wants to abolish the scheme and to raise the pre-retirement age to 61 as part of its efforts to cut costs in order to remain competitive against major international carriers, especially from the Gulf countries.

Lufthansa pilots are also opposing a management plan to expand its low-cost operations, which would enable the airline to compete more efficiently with budget airlines on European and international routes.

The airline is reported to be planning a new low-cost subsidiary for lucrative long-haul routes.

The pilots' strike is estimated to cost Lufthansa between 15 and 20 million euros a day.

Its total losses since the strike began in April could be around 170 million euros, media reports said.