Lufthansa strike kicks in and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight

The two-day action started because of pay and work conditions. About 180.000 passengers are set to face travel disruption. The UFO union said it would hit all Lufthansa flights from German airports. The airline announced that flights by Lufthansa's other airlines including Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines are not affected.

About 600 flights were cancelled as a 48-hour Lufthansa cabin crew strike entered its second day

Germany's flagship airline cancelled the flights, from a total pool of 1362 flights, departing mainly from the Munich and Frankfurt hubs, affecting 180,000 passengers.

The UFO union, which represents about 21,000 Lufthansa crews, called the strike in a dispute over pay and the union's legal status.

The strike is due to end on Friday, however carry-on effects will likely ground flights on Saturday too.

On Thursday, 700 flights from the main group's schedule of 1.100 were axed.

The strike continued after the German airline's chief executive, Carsten Spohr, and UFO agreed to a new round of arbitration at the weekend to discuss for a new round of talks in the dispute over pay and conditions.

Further action threatened

UFO spokesman Nicoley Baublies said the union was open to discussions but not to ending  the two-day strike.

"If the talks don't work out, we will have to announce on Monday that there will be more strikes," Baublies told reporters at Munich airport.

The strike action is aimed at obtaining higher expenses and allowances for approximately 21,000 flight crew, as well as improved career possibilities among seasonal workers.

The union, though, will not extend the strike to other airlines in the Lufthansa group such as Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian or Brussels Airlines.

Corporate silver lining

In some relief for the company, Lufthansa's share price took off on Thursday largely thanks to a cost-cutting program already underway at its budget airline Eurowings.

Carsten Spohr said the group was "taking tangible corrective action to improve earnings."

Source: dw.com