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Germany could face pilots’ strike as Lufthansa union votes for industrial action

Pilots with German flagship airline Lutfhansa could strike after their trade union on Sunday vote in favour of industrial action, days after a ground staff strike ended.

Germany could face pilots’ strike as Lufthansa union votes for industrial action
Germany could face more flight disruptions after Lufthansa'a pilots' union voted in favour of a strike. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Bockwoldt

Pilots at Lufthansa, Europe’s biggest airline, have overwhelmingly backed a strike to press for higher pay, their union said on Sunday.

“This is a signal that cannot be ignored,” the pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) said in a statement.

The risk that Lufthansa’s planes could be grounded has increased, but the result of the consultation “does not automatically mean strike action will be taken”, it added.

The union said it would immediately reopen negotiations with the management, currently at a stalemate, “with even more support” from its members.

Lufthansa has around 5,500 pilots in its passenger and freight operations. VC is the only union representing them.

Although the vote does not make a pilots’ strike a certainty, it is a signal that action could take place should Lufthansa take constructive steps, news agency Reuters cites VC board member Marcel Groels as saying.

“We are showing we are ready to talk,” Groels said.

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The vote gave a majority of 97.6 percent in favour of a strike by passenger service pilots and 99.3 percent for cargo pilots. Turnout was around 95 percent of the membership.

The pilots are demanding a 5.5-percent rise in their salaries this year, followed by an automatic indexing to inflation.

It also wants a uniform pay structure for all airline staff with the Lufthansa group, which includes Eurowings as well as Lufthansa itself.

Strikes would be possible if the current negotiations on pay and conditions fail. In this case, the pilots could start industrial action in mid-August, during the holiday season.

The pilots’ union vote comes three days after strike action by Lufthansa ground staff, which caused 1,000 flights to be cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday, affecting more than 130,000 Lufthansa passengers.

Further strikes by Lufhansa ground staff also remain on the table, given that the next round of collective bargaining with their union, Verdi, is scheduled to take place on August 3rd and 4th in Frankfurt. 

More ground staff strikes could be called if an agreement isn’t reached. The union wants a 9.5-percent pay rise, or at least €350 per month. It also wants a minimum hourly wage of €13 for staff.

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What’s the environmental fee Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss airlines will charge you?

German airline group Lufthansa, which includes national flyers Austrian and Swiss airlines have said it will add an environmental charge to passenger fares in Europe to cover the cost of increasing EU climate regulations.

What's the environmental fee Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss airlines will charge you?

How much will the cost be?

The extra cost will be added to all flights sold and operated by the group departing from EU countries as well as Britain, Norway and Switzerland, the group said in a statement.

It will apply to flights from January next year and, depending on the route and fare, will vary from €1 to €72.

What’s the justification for the cost?

“The airline group will not be able to bear the successively increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the coming years on its own,” said Lufthansa.

The group — whose airlines include Lufthansa, Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines — said it is facing extra costs from EU regulations related to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The aviation sector is among the toughest to decarbonise and SAF — a biofuel that produces lower carbon emissions than traditional jet fuel  — is seen as a crucial ingredient to hitting emissions targets but is currently more expensive to produce.

In March, Airlines for Europe, which represents the continent’s largest airline groups including Lufthansa, complained that production of the fuel in Europe is minimal and lags far behind projects launched in the United States.

Lufthansa said it also faces extra costs from changes to the EU’s emissions trading system, and other regulatory measures.

The group aims to halve its net carbon emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, and to go carbon neutral by 2050.

What is the EU legislation?

The EU legislation requires airlines to gradually increase use of the fuel on routes departing EU airports.

Carriers will need to include two percent of SAF in their fuel mix from next year, rising to six percent in 2030 and then soaring to 70 percent from 2050.

What’s the sate of Lufthansa group’s finances?

After having to be bailed out by the German government during the coronavirus pandemic, Lufthansa racked up healthy profits in 2022 and 2023 as travel demand roared back.

But it was hard hit by a series of strikes at the start of this year, reporting a hefty first-quarter loss.

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