FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Lufthansa intends to stick to its strategy despite the latest pilot strike. On Monday, Chief Human Resources Officer Michael Niggemann warned the sectoral unions Vereinigung Cockpit and Ufo against continuing their confrontational course. Referring to the mounting costs, he stated: "Every strike diminishes the size of the affected airline."
The core carrier, "Lufthansa Classic," is already uncompetitive on many routes, meaning costs cannot be increased further. "This is about the future viability of the Classic brand," Niggemann said.
Aircraft being redeployed
For the Lufthansa Group, it is clear that aircraft can only be deployed where they can operate profitably. For this reason, entities outside the core brand, such as the new subsidiary Lufthansa City Airlines, would continue to grow. "These strikes will not influence our strategy."
According to Niggemann, approximately half of Lufthansa's long-haul flights were expected to operate on the first day of the third wave of pilot strikes. On short- and medium-haul routes, the figure would be around one-third, while at the group level—which includes airlines such as Swiss, Austrian, and Brussels—three out of four flights could still take place.
The strike by the Vereinigung Cockpit union at the Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, and Cityline subsidiaries began shortly after midnight and is scheduled to end just before midnight this Tuesday. At the leisure carrier Eurowings, all departures from German airports are affected on Monday only. Last week, flight attendants had also staged a walkout./ceb/DP/stw
