Travel

Flights: Lufthansa chaos ahead as flight attendants announce strike


Lufthansa airline flight attendants have called for a five-hour strike this coming Sunday. The strike is expected to directly affect flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich, although the ripple effects will be felt on connecting flights and sister airlines. Other airlines that may be affected include Eurowings, Germanwings, Lufthansa Cityline and SunExpress. Action is due to take place between six and 11 am.

The action has been called by German cabin crew union UFO in response to a disagreement over employment terms.

While the initial strike is set to take place on 20 October, the union has hinted at further action.

The dispute covers staff at Lufthansa, as well as budget units Germanwings and Eurowings, regional arm CityLine, and the Frankfurt-based operation of Lufthansa’s joint venture with Turkish Airlines -Sun Express.

According to bild.de approximately 500 departures are at risk of disruption, not only at the Munich and Frankfurt hubs, but also Düsseldorf, Stuttgart or Berlin.

However, the airline says that strike action in Germany has been called off and that it anticipates all flights to depart as expected. 

Lufthansa has also said it has “no need” to amend its schedule and intends to operate a “full flight programme” on 20 October.

Speaking to Express.co.uk a spokesperson from Lufthansa said: “In the meantime, the call for industrial action at Lufthansa German Airlines has been withdrawn. Despite the planned strike at other Lufthansa Group Airlines on Sunday between 5 and 11am, the Lufthansa Group follows the clear objective to fly as scheduled.

UFO deputy chief Daniel Flohr said in a video message that the union will call for “action at every group airline” to achieve its objectives.

The union was left unimpressed after Lufthansa announced it would be offering a 2 per cent voluntary pay increase to staff.

Flohr stated that further strike action was dependent “on whether Lufthansa will return to the negotiation table.”

The airline and UFO previously discussed employment terms in 2018.

According to Flohr Lufthansa has since prohibited talks with the union and has threatened legal action against staff participating in the union’s strike activities.

The German airline also filed a motion with a regional Labour court to “legally determine the union status of UFO”.

Passengers due to fly are advised to stay up to date with relevant flight information.

Though the effects of the strike are yet to be felt, passengers can look to strikes earlier in the year for a prediction.

Both British Airways pilots and Ryanair pilots took industrial action over the summer in a dispute about pay and working conditions.

While British Airways pilots called off a second round of strike action, according to BALPA the British airline is reported to have lost £120million as a result according to BALPA.

Meanwhile, Ryanair claimed it would not be cancelling any flights on the days of planned action.



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