The pilots union said in a written statement that pilots at the largest airline in Europe, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, are expected to go on strike. The walkouts come after the failure of the retirement benefits negotiations and will ground more than 1 000 passenger flights and some cargo transport out of the country on December 1st and 2nd.
According to a statement made by the company, Lufthansas all long-haul passenger flights are to remain on schedule on Monday. The Germanwings division of the company would not be affected by the walkouts.
This would be the ninth strike of the companys pilots since April 2014. It is expected to affect short- and medium-haul flights scheduled from noon Monday until 23:59 CET on Tuesday. Lufthansa asked its employees for new negotiations and called the strike disproportionate.
The pilots union said in a written statement, cited by the Wall Street Journal: “With these strike measures the pilots are continuing to fight decisively against cuts in retirement benefit.” As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the company said: “We are still convinced that solutions able to stand the test of time can only be achieved together at the negotiating table.”
The walkouts are considered as the latest measures taken by Vereinigung Cockpit, the pilots union, against Lufthansas new retirement conditions. The disagreements between the company and its pilots came after Lufthansa suggested some changes to an early retirement scheme, which was developed years ago. The dispute resulted in a series of walkouts, which seriously influenced the overall performance of Europes biggest airline.
The strikes were reported to have been resulted in a €160-million ($200-million) decline in the operating profit of the company. In October Lufthansa trimmed its 2015 profit forecast for the second time this year. The airline carrier said that it is to expand its low-cost operations in order to become more competitive against budget carriers and Gulf rivals.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG traded at €14.36 per share as of 8:06 GMT, marking a one-year decrease of 10.20%. The company is valued at €6.64 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 25 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Deutsche Lufthansa AG have a median target of €13.00, with a high estimate of €22.20 and a low estimate of €9.50. The median estimate represents a -9.44% decrease from the last price of €14.36.
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