Lufthansa Makes New Offer To Pilots

Lufthansa has made its pilots a new pay offer to try to end the series of 24-hour strikes that has crippled the German airline.

Lufthansa on Friday had offered a 4.4 percent increase in two stages and a one-off payment. The Vereinigung Cockpit union turned down that offer.

The latest offer maintains the financial terms but drops Lufthansa’s demands for extended working hours from its pilots. Remuneration would be increased by 2.4 percent for 2016 and 2.0 percent in 2017, the airline said in a statement. The offer is not linked to any other terms or conditions.

VC is seeking a 3.66 percent average pay increase for the last five years.

“We want to urgently avoid any further damage to our company and finally return to offering our passengers the kind of service they can expect from us,” Lufthansa’s Harry Hohmeister said.

Bettina Volkens, chief officer human resources, said “We want to get back to the negotiating table as quickly as possible… we can then successively negotiate on all the currently-open collective labour agreement issues.”

Lufthansa has cancelled 4,450 flights over a series of six 24-hour strikes. Over half a million passengers have been affected, the airline said.

VC said they had received support from pilots all over the world, but have not commented on the latest offer.