Lufthansa reaches agreement to end strike

Lufthansa is reporting that a deal has been struck and the strike by its ground staff will end tomorrow – but flight cancellations may still continue for up to two weeks.

The German carrier Lufthansa has agreed to terms on a pay increase for its ground staff with representatives of the trade union ver.di, after five days of a strike that grounded hundreds of flights.

Nearly 4000 ground staff and a smaller number of cabin crew have been on a walkout against the airline since early Monday, but the new agreement will have them returning to work on Saturday, although airline officials are indicating that cancellations may well continue for as long as two weeks.

Hundreds of Lufthansa flights have been cancelled since the beginning of the strike, mostly due to a shortage of maintenance personnel causing a backlog of aircraft checks. On Tuesday and Wednesday, more than 70 flights were cancelled each day, and on Friday over 100 were grounded.

Lufthansa spokesman, Aage Duenhaupt, confirmed that “it will take around 10 to 14 days to get the whole fleet up and running again.”

During the next two weeks the spokesman added that there could up to 128 cancellations daily, mostly impacting scheduled short-haul flights originating from the Frankfurt Airport.

The deal between Lufthansa and ver.di will increase the pay of the workers covered by 5.1 per cent, effective on signing of the agreement, with an additional 2.3 per cent increase in one year’s time, and a one-time payment. The settlement agreement will cover a 21 month period.

www.lufthansa.com