- Title: Lufthansa scraps 830 short-haul flights due to strike extended to Saturday
- Date: 25th November 2016
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) PARKED LUFTHANSA PLANES ON TARMAC VARIOUS OF PARKED LUFTHANSA PLANE'S DESERTED COCKPIT AT FRANKFURT AIRPORT VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS LOOKING AT CANCELLED LUFTHANSA FLIGHTS DISPLAYED ON DEPARTURES BOARD VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS AT LUFTHANSA COUNTER LUFTHANSA'S HEAD OF MEDIA RELATIONS MARTIN LEUTKE TALKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (German) LUFTHANSA'S HEAD OF MEDIA RELATIONS, MARTIN LEUTKE, SAYING: "The extension of the strike by (pilots' union) Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) shows once again, more clearly than ever, that we need a compromise we can both agree on. We here at Lufthansa are obviously working on achieving such a compromise and that's what we are also doing today. Yet it is a fact that Vereinigung Cockpit is not talking to us and instead is extending the strikes. We believe that's wrong. We must return to the negotiating table or go into arbitration." LEUTKE SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (German) LUFTHANSA'S HEAD OF MEDIA RELATIONS, MARTIN LEUTKE, SAYING: "We have made a number of offers. Vereinigung Cockpit has turned down arbitration because they are saying arbitration won't get us a solution. So I am asking you: if arbitration is no solution and if our positions are so far apart, what else can be done? We can't exchange the offers via radio and television, we must return to the negotiating table. We are ready and we call on VC to do the same." VARIOUS OF JOERG HANDWERG, EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER OF PILOT'S UNION 'VEREINIGUNG COCKPIT', TALKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (German) EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER OF PILOT'S UNION, 'VEREINIGUNG COCKPIT', JOERG HANDWERG, SAYING: "If Mr. Spohr (Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr) says there is no leeway to find a solution and that Lufthansa will go bankrupt if we pay pilots even just one euro more, then I ask myself how serious their arbitration offer can be. That would mean finding a solution. But with this stipulation there cannot be a solution." DEPARTURES HALL (SOUNDBITE) (German) LUFTHANSA PASSENGER, DIETER EIDT, SAYING: "We are affected because we want to fly to Rome. We are a large group and now we have to divide ourselves onto three different planes so that we will probably only arrive this evening. It's not pleasant. I believe that they are demanding something that can't be fulfilled and which is unjustified. But such is the situation." (SOUNDBITE) (German) LUFTHANSA PASSENGER (NO NAME), SAYING: "Give these people more money and everything will work out. It's that simple." PASSENGER WALKING OFF WITH HIS TROLLEY
- Embargoed: 10th December 2016 11:00
- Keywords: Lufthansa strike airline pilot cockpit carrier Germany
- Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- City: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA00159XWZEV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: German airline Lufthansa cancelled around 830 flights on Friday (November 25) because of a strike by pilots, with long-haul journeys facing disruption over the weekend as the dispute intensifies.
"We have made a number of offers," Lufthansa's head of media relations, Martin Leutke, told reporters at Frankfurt airport.
"Vereinigung Cockpit has turned down arbitration because they are saying arbitration won't get us a solution," Leutke said, adding "I am asking you: if arbitration is no solution and if our positions are so far apart, what else can be done? We can't exchange the offers via radio and television, we must return to the negotiating table."
Shares in Lufthansa, down more than 13 percent this year, traded lower on Friday as investors fretted over the prospect of a long-running walkout at the German airline with neither pilots nor management appearing willing to back down.
One of Europe's biggest airlines, Lufthansa has cancelled over 2,600 flights since pilots represented by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union went on strike on Wednesday (November 23), disrupting travel plans for more than 315,000 passengers.
"It's not pleasant," said Lufthansa passenger Dieter Eidt who was booked on a flight to Rome.
"I believe that they are demanding something that can't be fulfilled and which is unjustified," Eidt said about the pilots' demands.
The union raised the pressure on management and extended the strike for a third time on Thursday (November 24), saying all long-haul flights leaving Germany on Saturday (November 26) will be affected until midnight. The strike on Friday was affecting short and medium-haul flights.
Lufthansa said 137 long-haul flights would be cancelled on Saturday due to the strike.
The pilots' strike is their 14th walkout since early 2014. The union wants an average annual pay increase of 3.7 percent for 5,400 pilots in Germany over a five-year period from 2012. Lufthansa has offered 2.5 percent over six years to 2019.
Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr has said the carrier's future would be on the line if pilots' wages were raised to the level demanded. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
