Germany's Largest Airline Lufthansa Enters Strike... Most Flights Canceled

Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa, experienced a one-day strike on the 7th (local time) as its labor union demanded a wage increase. As a result, most Lufthansa flights at major German airports were canceled.

On the 7th (local time), Lufthansa passenger planes are parked at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

According to Verdi, the German United Services Trade Union, Lufthansa Group's ground staff began striking at 4 a.m. on the 7th and plan to continue the strike until 7:10 a.m. on the 8th.

Due to this strike, 80-90% of the approximately 1,000 scheduled flights at six German airports?Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart, and D?sseldorf?were canceled. At Frankfurt Airport, Lufthansa's main hub, 500 flights were canceled. However, subsidiaries within the group such as Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian, and Brussels Airlines are operating as planned.

Lufthansa announced on its website, "Due to the strike, there are no staff at the counters, so please come to the airport only if your flight has not been canceled." The company also criticized the union, stating that about 100,000 passengers will be inconvenienced by the strike and called it "a strike that is difficult to accept in terms of duration and scope."

This strike appears to be a repercussion of ongoing wage negotiations between Verdi, representing about 25,000 ground staff in Lufthansa's air cargo and maintenance subsidiaries, and the Lufthansa Group. The union is demanding a 12.5% wage increase and a compensation support payment of 3,000 euros (approximately 4.29 million KRW) to offset inflation. The company has proposed a 13% wage increase spread over 36 months.

However, the union argues that "Lufthansa is making record profits but invests too little in its employees," and claims that under the company's proposal, the wage increase in the first year would be less than 2%. Lufthansa posted an operating profit of 1.5 billion euros (approximately 2.1433 trillion KRW) in the third quarter of last year due to increased air travel demand following the COVID-19 pandemic. The labor and management are scheduled to resume negotiations on the 12th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.