AUA parent company Lufthansa estimates the financial burden of the strikes so far this year at 250 million euros. CFO Remco Steenbergen explained the burden and long-term consequences of the strikes in an internal memo to employees on Wednesday. The consequences are serious.
This affects crew schedules, aircraft deployment schedules and customer uncertainty. The otherwise very profitable connection between Frankfurt and San Francisco will currently have to be suspended for a whole week.
In addition, customers are more careful when booking – or avoid the Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. When presenting the balance sheet at the beginning of March, Steenbergen estimated the burden of the strikes at 100 million euros.
Chaos during the Easter holidays?
The labor disputes at Lufthansa have been going on for some time. Shortly before the start of the Easter travel wave, efforts to resolve the issue, for example with cabin crew, are in full swing. “There are problems with money and duration,” the president of the UFO flight attendants union, Joachim Vazquez Bürger, said on Wednesday after the latest round of negotiations. Negotiations must continue. “But it is currently unclear whether an agreement will be reached before Easter.”
Arbitrators must assist in the collective labor agreement negotiation dispute between Lufthansa’s ground crew. In the event of a failed arbitration, Verdi has initiated strike voting on indefinite strikes.
Security personnel are also on strike
Added to this is the wave of warning actions from aviation security personnel at airports. On Wednesday, representatives of the Verdi union and the employers started the sixth round of collective labor negotiations. “We are very willing to reach an agreement,” Verdi negotiator Wolfgang Pieper said before the talks began.
It is currently impossible to say whether a failure will lead to strikes at Easter. It also depends on how the discussions go. “We hope that an agreement will be reached,” said a spokeswoman for the aviation security company (BDLS).
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
