Lufthansa 48‑hour walkout
Lufthansa pilots have announced a 48‑hour walkout — the third pilot strike in a month. (simpleflying.com). The airline had already suffered a two‑day strike on March 12–13, and the union warned that further industrial action during the summer is likely if no settlement is reached. (simpleflying.com)
Lufthansa pilots began a 48-hour strike on Monday, April 13, disrupting flights across the airline’s core brand and key subsidiaries in Germany. (lufthansa.com) Lufthansa said the walkout was called by the Vereinigung Cockpit union for Monday, April 13, and Tuesday, April 14, and that it was trying to keep as many flights operating as possible through other Lufthansa Group and partner airlines. (lufthansa.com) An internal Lufthansa travel advisory said the strike covers Lufthansa, Lufthansa CityLine and Eurowings on April 13 and 14, with Eurowings affected on April 13. Lufthansa’s public flight-status page told passengers to check bookings, rebook later flights or request refunds. (lufthansaexperts.com) (lufthansa.com) The stoppage lands after a two-day pilot strike on March 12 and 13, when Vereinigung Cockpit called out pilots at Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa CityLine after talks failed to produce changes to pension arrangements. (aerotime.aero) Lufthansa had already been dealing with wider labor unrest inside the group. Its website also carried a separate notice for a cabin-crew strike by the UfO union on Friday, April 10, three days before the pilot walkout began. (lufthansa.com) The current dispute centers on negotiations between Lufthansa management and Vereinigung Cockpit, the German pilots’ union. In March, union president Andreas Pinheiro said there was still “no offer on the table” and said he would have preferred to avoid further escalation. (aerotime.aero) During the March strike, Lufthansa said it expected to operate more than half of its schedule, including about 60% of long-haul flights, by using volunteer captains, larger aircraft and crews from other group and partner airlines. (bloomberg.com) Some routes were carved out of the earlier March action. Reports on that strike said flights from Germany to destinations including Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were exempted because of the security situation in the Middle East. (sofiaglobe.com) For passengers this week, Lufthansa’s advice is practical rather than political: monitor booking status, use self-service rebooking tools if flights are canceled, and expect short-notice changes through Tuesday, April 14. (lufthansa.com)
