In view of the as-yet-unsolved structural cost problems, Lufthansa’s low-yielding routes-especially to Asia, Africa and South America-will be subject to review.
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The airline’s latest offer to resolve the industrial dispute was rejected by the UFO, which said it constituted only a “minimal” improvement.
South African passengers flying from Johannesburg on board Lufthansa flights to Düsseldorf via Frankfurt and from Johannesburg and or Cape Town with South African Airways or Lufthansa via Munich, should expect severe delays.
“Employees seem to be angry, and the union seems well-organized, making it very hard for Lufthansa to mitigate the strike impact”, Jochen Rothenbacher, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Equinet AG, said by phone.
In response to UFO’s latest strike schedule, Lufthansa has chose to cancel as much as 126 long-haul flights, along with 10 continental connections.
Meanwhile, the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots union has expressed its solidarity with strikers of the Independent Flight Attendant Organisation (UFO) who have called for a one-week strike at the airline.
The dispute with flight attendants is part of Lufthansa’s broader struggles with labour as it seeks to push through restructuring plans to better compete with low-priced rivals such as EasyJet and Ryanair.
“As soon as Lufthansa joins arbitration with us without preconditions, we will end the strike”, Baublies told reporters.
Lufthansa shares fell 2.2 percent to 13.64 euros by 0555 ET and were the second-biggest decliners in a flat German blue-chip index. The stock has dropped 3.4 percent this year, valuing the airline at 6.21 billion euros.
The district court in the western city of Darmstadt said it would hear the case Tuesday evening and announce a ruling, news agency DPA reported.
Court spokeswoman Anke Salchow said the decision only applied Tuesday.
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The union says it is prepared to accept a few cuts to retirement benefits but Lufthansa is going too far.
