On Thursday, Lufthansa will experience massive flight cancellations. Since 00:01, pilots of Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo, along with cabin crew for both Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cityline, have walked off the job to pressure the airline in a wage dispute.
The pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) is striking to secure better corporate pension provisions and is demanding a forward‑looking collective agreement that provides stability for both current pilots and newly hired cockpit staff. Union spokesperson Arne Karstens emphasized that the responsibility now lies with the employer to make an offer.
Cabin crew, represented by the Independent Flight Attendants Organisation (Ufo), have joined the walkout. Their actions affect Lufthansa departures from Frankfurt and Munich, and extend across numerous airports-Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Berlin, and Hanover-on Lufthansa Cityline.
Ufo’s leadership, headed by Harry Jaeger, criticizes what it calls a failure on Lufthansa’s part to address demands for a new framework agreement. Jaeger says management is determined to lower safeguard levels for working conditions over time, arguing that productivity-already hampered by a massive investment backlog-would be further weakened by a poorer work‑life balance and a private life that becomes virtually unplanable. He describes this as an absurd strategy the union will not accept.
In Cityline, cabin crew are demanding a tariff‑based social plan. According to Jaeger, staff has been told for more than a year that Cityline’s flight operations have no future. As a result, the crew face the clear prospect of job loss. Jaeger urged the airline to implement a social plan promptly so that they don’t suddenly find themselves existentially in front of nothing.
