Lufthansa pilots went on a day-long strike on Friday. A spokesman said in the morning that the strike had begun as planned.
Lufthansa had already cancelled almost the entire program at the Munich and Frankfurt hubs on Thursday in view of the threat. Around 130,000 passengers are affected by more than 800 flights that are cancelled at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs.
The passengers were asked not to come to the airports, but to switch to the train or flights on another day.
Passengers are entitled to refunds and possibly compensation payments in the event of cancellations or serious delays. According to the union, only the departures of the Lufthansa core company and Lufthansa Cargo from German airports are on strike.
A Singaporean spoke to Singapore Uncensorerd saying that he received an SMS stating that his flight was cancelled, initially he thought that it was a scam SMS until he read the news.
The subsidiaries Eurowings, Lufthansa Cityline and Eurowings Discover are not affected by the call and are scheduled to fly. The same applies to foreign Lufthansa subsidiaries such as Swiss, Austrian or Brussels.
The union had called the strike on Thursday night after collective bargaining with Lufthansa had failed. Lufthansa has criticized the strike call and called on VC to return to the negotiating table. According to Lufthansa, VC’s demands would increase personnel costs in the cockpit by 40 per cent.
Negotiations have failed for the time being
The company offered an increase in the monthly basic salary by a flat rate of 900 euros. Based on a period of 18 months, the increase would be 18 per cent for young professionals and 5 per cent for captains in the final stage, Lufthansa announced.
In addition to 5.5 per cent more money this year, the VC had demanded an automated compensation above inflation from 2023. There would also be a new salary table and more money for sick days, holidays and training. Over a period of two years, that would mean an additional burden of 900 million euros, Lufthansa said.