Over 1, 50,000 passengers were affected as 1350 Lufthansa flights were cancelled in the last two days. The strike was initiated by pilots of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, leading to the cancellation of short-haul and intercontinental flights.
Retirement benefit policy of the airline seems to be the issue of regular disagreement between the pilots and the management. This is the ninth consecutive strike this year. The German pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) representing nearly 5,400 pilots is opposing Lufthansa’s attempt to do away with a retirement plan that allows pilots to retire at 55, but continue receiving 60 % of their normal salary until the standard retirement age of 65 years.
Lufthansa announced that travelers who were affected by the strike can re-book their flights free of charge. Lufthansa, despite being Germany’s largest airline had to cut its profit projections for 2015 for the second time this year, thanks to rising costs and intense competition.
The airline is also expanding its low-cost service to counter tough competition from other carriers. Lufthansa however reveals that thanks to increase in demand and their “flexible demand-based capacity management,” the company has achieved acceptable traffic revenue by the third quarter of 2014.