Why are Lufthansa pilots unhappy?

Germany’s flag carrier Lufthansa has cancelled its flights for Wednesday until Friday as pilots continue to protest for a change in their retirement scheme.

Lufthansa management said it will hold off all talks with the pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) as long as the strike is in progress. Meanwihle, VC said they want to hear the management’s new offer first before negotiations could resume.

Chief pilot Werner Knorr said ‘We’ll first see out the strike and then we’ll think about talks.’

Pilots are asking the management to reinstate the old retirement scheme that will give them 60% of their salaries if they retire earlier than age 65. However, the management said the scheme is no longer needed because retirement age for EU pilots was raised to 65 starting 2011.

The airliner has released a list of cancelled flights and announced that they will provide rebooking services to ticket holders whose flights have been affected by the strike. Those who have questions are advised to contact the service centre at +49(0)69-86-799-799.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman said the airliner is now concentrating on getting operations back to normal on Saturday, 5 April. Around 3,800 flights have been cancelled because of the strike that has been called the worst walkout to ever hit the airline.