By Cristina Gallardo
Deutsche Lufthansa is grappling with another two-day pilot strike over pensions, starting Monday.
Pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit $(VC)$ invited pilots to strike from Monday to Tuesday midnight. The strike call applies to union members of Lufthansa's mainline airline, Lufthansa Cargo and regional carrier CityLine. Pilots at Eurowings would walk out only on Monday, the union said.
Flights from Germany to a number of Middle East destinations--including Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar and Lebanon, among others--will be excluded from the strike action, VC said.
Until 2017, pilots at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo received a traditional company pension with guaranteed payouts, which was replaced by a capital market-financed model that the union said falls significantly short of the previous pension level.
The union's President Andreas Pinheiro said that neither Lufthansa nor Lufthansa Cargo has submitted an offer for a company pension scheme, and that CityLine hasn't presented a viable offer for a new collective bargaining agreement, despite the latter's decision not to strike during the Easter holidays. The union described a pension scheme offer submitted by Eurowings as unacceptable.
"During this time, there was neither a response or any discernible willingness to negotiate on the part of the employers," Pinheiro said.
Lufthansa didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
In recent months, the German carrier group has been hit by a wave of strike action by pilots, but agreed last month to increase wages of ground staff in Germany, addressing another potential cause for disruption.
The company has also warned that the conflict in the Middle East could hurt its performance this year, due to higher fuel costs and increased geopolitical uncertainty.
Write to Cristina Gallardo at cristina.gallardo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
By Cristina Gallardo
Deutsche Lufthansa rejected demands from a pilot union to double the company pension plan as the German carrier group faces a new two-day pilot strike, starting Monday.
Union Vereinigung Cockpit invited pilots to strike on Monday and Tuesday in a call that applies to union members of Lufthansa's namesake airline, Lufthansa Cargo and regional carrier CityLine. Pilots at Eurowings would walk out only on Monday, the union said.
Flights from Germany to a number of Middle East destinations--including Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar and Lebanon, among others--will be excluded from the strike action, VC said.
Until 2017, pilots at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo received a traditional company pension with guaranteed payouts that was replaced by a capital market-financed model, which the union said falls significantly short of the previous pension coverage.
The union's President Andreas Pinheiro said that neither Lufthansa nor Lufthansa Cargo had submitted an offer for a company pension plan, and that CityLine hadn't presented a viable offer for a new collective bargaining agreement despite the latter's decision not to strike during the Easter holidays. The union described a pension plan offer submitted by Eurowings as unacceptable.
"During this time, there was neither a response or any discernible willingness to negotiate on the part of the employers," Pinheiro said.
In response, Lufthansa said in a statement that the latest strike action marked a "completely new level of escalation," calling the union's demands to double its company pension plan "absurd and unfeasible."
Lufthansa expects the airlines affected by the strike to operate about one-third of their total short-haul schedule on both days, and half of their long-haul flights. On Monday, Lufthansa Cargo will be able to operate 70% of its scheduled flights, while Eurowings will operate 60% of its schedule.
In recent months, the German carrier group has been hit by a wave of strikes by pilots, but agreed last month to increase wages of ground staff in Germany, addressing another potential cause for disruption.
The company has also warned that the conflict in the Middle East could hurt its performance this year, due to higher fuel costs and increased geopolitical uncertainty.
Write to Cristina Gallardo at cristina.gallardo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 13, 2026 10:50 ET (14:50 GMT)
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