Flights between Manchester and Frankfurt and Munich have been cancelled tomorrow due to strike action from pilots. Lufthansa has been forced to axe hundreds of journeys to the German cities after the union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) announced industrial action on Friday (September 2).
In total, 11 flights serving Manchester Airport have been cancelled while 34 services connecting Heathrow with Frankfurt and Munich are grounded. It is estimated that about 7,000 passengers booked on the carrier’s UK flights will be disrupted by the 24-hour strike, which comes at the end of the school holidays in Germany and other European countries.
Affected passengers are entitled to be flown to their final destination as soon as possible. They may also be entitled to compensation, as consumer groups do not believe cancellations due to strikes by airline employees fall under the “extraordinary circumstances” exemption.
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VC, a trade union representing Lufthansa’s pilots, announced the walkout on Thursday in a row over pay. It accused bosses of failing to improve on their previous proposal.
Matthias Baier, a spokesman for the union, said: “Aware of our responsibility for companies and guests, we wanted to leave no stone unturned and offered another negotiation date despite an inadequate offer and failed negotiations. We did not receive a sufficient offer today either.
"This is sobering and a missed opportunity. The negotiations have failed. The only thing left for us to do is to reinforce our demands with a labour dispute.”
Lufthansa said it has offered to raise pilots’ monthly base salaries by 900 euros (£777), and claimed the union’s demands would “would increase payroll costs by more than 40%”.
The airline’s labour director Michael Niggemann said: “We cannot understand VC’s call for a strike. The management has made a very good and socially balanced offer – despite the continuing burdens of the Covid crisis and uncertain prospects for the global economy.
“This escalation comes at the expense of many thousands of customers.”
In a statement on its website, Lufthansa said it was working to return its flight operations to normal as soon as possible but warned of further cancellations and delays on Saturday and Sunday.
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