Lufthansa: Strike Will Lead To 559 Cancellations Monday
FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- A strike by pilots at German airlines CityLine and Eurowings, subsidiaries of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE), will lead to 559 flight cancellations Monday, airline spokeswoman Claudia Lange told Dow Jones Newswires.
Lange didn't say how high the costs resulting from the cancellations would be. However, she pointed out that the two airlines had flown 680 flights the previous Monday.
The pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit, or VC, had called a 24-hour strike, which started Sunday at 2200 GMT. The union had told Dow Jones earlier Monday that 99% of the cockpit personnel had voted to take part in the collective action.
The strike was called after wage talks broke down, according to the union, and affects all German airports from which the two carriers fly.
"We hope that we will not have to take any further measures after this one-day strike," said a union spokesman. However, he said CityLine and Eurowings management would have to make some concessions in order for this to happen.
Management at Lufthansa's low-cost carrier Germanwings had presented the workers' union with a new offer Friday, thus preventing a strike at that airline. The union would soon restart negotiations with Germanwings' management on this offer, said VC spokeswoman Ilona Ritter.
The workers' representatives say they now hope that CityLine and Eurowings managers will decide to take a similar step and restart talks after the "successful strike" Monday. Previous offers were "too divergent" from the union's core demands, Ritter said.
Lufthansa believes the strike is unnecessary, as it is willing to negotiate, according to the airline spokeswoman.
Company Web site:
www.lufthansa-financials.com
Union Web site:
www.vcockpit.de
-By Kirsten Bienk, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 511;
kirsten.bienk@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 07, 2008 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)