Concerned travellers gather at a Germanwings counter at Cologne Airport early yesterday following the start of a strike by pilots of the Lufthansa ‘daughter’ company.
Reuters/Berlin
Pilots at Lufthansa’s budget carrier Germanwings staged a six-hour strike yesterday, disrupting travel plans of thousands of people returning from summer holidays and putting pressure on Lufthansa management in a pension scheme dispute.
Pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) wants Lufthansa to maintain an early retirement scheme that allows pilots to retire at 55 and still receive up to 60% of their pay until state pension payments kick in.
The airline argues that there is no need for the scheme, given rising life expectancy and a court ruling that pilots can now work until the age of 65.
The dispute is set against the backdrop of a Lufthansa overhaul to boost competitiveness against no-frills rivals and Gulf carriers, seeking to lift annual group operating profit to €2bn in 2015, up from its forecast €1bn in 2014.
A three-day nationwide strike by Lufthansa pilots in April over the same issue effectively grounded the airline and wiped €60mn ($79.04mn) off its first-half profit.
