Posts

Paul

Lufthansa Pilots’ Strike Enters Second Day.

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Pilots at German airline Lufthansa have started a second day of strikes today, Wednesday 9th September 2015, grounding around 1,000 flights and affecting 140,000 passengers, and said more strikes would come if the company’s management did not improve their offer in a row over cost cutting.

Lufthansa had tried to stop the strike, the 13th in 18 months, with a temporary injunction but on Tuesday night two courts ruled in favour of the pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit.

“If there’s no new offer from Lufthansa we will call for a further strike,” VC spokesman Markus Wahl told Reuters at Frankfurt airport. He said strikes could occur at any time, though the union would give 24 hours’ notice.

The pilots are striking over retirement benefits, pay and Lufthansa’s plans to expand low-cost operations. They want Lufthansa to halt the expansion of Eurowings, which has an Austria operating licence, while negotiations continue.

Lufthansa management has said it must achieve cost cuts in order to compete with budget rivals such as Ryanair, which are targeting the German market.

Paul

Lufthansa Pilots’ Strike.

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The pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit has announced a strike for all Lufthansa short-haul and continental (Europe) flights departing between 12.00 CEST on December 1st to 23.59 CEST on December 2nd, and for all intercontinental flights departing between 03:00 CEST to 23:59 CEST on December 2nd.

During the strike period disruptions of Lufthansa flights are expected. Lufthansa is currently working intensely on a special timetable for the strike period. All flights operated by the Lufthansa Group airlines Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Germanwings, SWISS and Air Dolomiti (operated by OS, SN, 4U, LX, EN) will not be affected.

Please contact us (GTM) if you are due to travel during the aforementioned times and we will assist you with re-booking.

Paul

One strike ends, another begins…again!

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First the good news: Air France’s main pilots’ union has announced the end of a crippling two-week strike, held over the airline’s plans for a low-cost subsidiary.

The SNPL’s spokesman told AFP that pilots were ending their protest – which has cost Air France more than 200 million euros ($A270.49 million) – so that negotiations over its low-cost subsidiary, Transavia, can go ahead “in a calmer climate”.

The pilots are fighting for a “single contract” across Air France-KLM, and its subsidiaries, to avoid being forced to accept less attractive working conditions at Transavia, which serves holiday destinations across Europe and the Mediterranean.

Now the less good news: pilots with Germany’s flag carrier, Lufthansa, will stage yet another strike, this time affecting long-haul flights tomorrow, Tuesday 30th September; their latest walkout in the ongoing dispute with the company’s management over early retirement provisions.

The pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit, called on its members to strike on long-haul flights departing from Frankfurt between 0600 and 2100 tomorrow. The strike would affect services on Airbus A380, A330 and A340 and Boeing 747 aircraft, the union said.

This is the fourth time that Lufthansa’s pilots have ‘downed tools’ in recent weeks. The first strike at the end of August hit Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary Germanwings. The second walkout a week later affected domestic and regional services, landing at or taking off from Frankfurt, and the third stoppage targeted Munich airport, Germany’s second-busiest air hub.

Lufthansa pilots can currently take paid early retirement from the age of 55. They are fighting a plan by the airline to raise the minimum age and to involve pilots in the financing of their pensions.

Paul

Lufthansa Pilot’s Strike Called Off.

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Lufthansa’s pilots have now called off their planned strike of today, Tuesday 16th September, that would have affected long-haul flights out of Frankfurt. Normal service resumed!