Lufthansa pilots extend strike over pay dispute

Lufthansa Airline pilots say they will extend a strike to Saturday, over pay that has left no less than 315,000 passengers stranded and cancelled at least 2,618 flights. Lufthansa’s executive management board member Harry Hohmeister said it was “not possible” to meet the pilots’ demand for a bigger wage rise. “The starting point is that […]

Lufthansa Airline pilots say they will extend a strike to Saturday, over pay that has left no less than 315,000 passengers stranded and cancelled at least 2,618 flights.

Lufthansa’s executive management board member Harry Hohmeister said it was “not possible” to meet the pilots’ demand for a bigger wage rise.

“The starting point is that we already pay our pilots far better than our competitors,” Hohmeister was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

The striking Lufthansa pilots are demanding a pay rise of an average of 3.66 percent a year, retroactive for the past five years. The company has offered a 2.5 percent wage increase.

Their union says pilots have endured a wage freeze over that time and suffered a “significant loss of purchasing power” due to inflation, while Lufthansa has made billions in profits.

Germany’s Bild newspaper said the strike was costing the airline around $10.5m a day.

Lufthansa group’s other airlines -Germanwings, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Air Dolomiti and Brussels Airlines – are not affected by this week’s strike.