12 Lufthansa Flights To And From Sofia Cancelled Due To Pilot Strike

Flights operated by Lufthansa between the German airports in Frankfurt am Main and Munich and Vasil Levski Airport in Sofia have been cancelled today due to a strike by the airline’s pilots, the airport said.

A total of 12 flights have been cancelled — six arrivals and six departures.

Lufthansa pilots are continuing their strike today, according to the Vereinigung Cockpit, as cited by DPA. The industrial action began at 00:01 yesterday and is due to continue until 23:59 today, April 14.

Union president Andreas Pinheiro said the organisation had been forced to take strike action due to a lack of progress in several collective labour disputes.

According to the union, neither Deutsche Lufthansa nor Lufthansa Cargo has put forward a proposal for a company pension scheme. Lufthansa CityLine has failed to present an acceptable new collective agreement on pay, while the pension proposal by Eurowings has been deemed unsatisfactory.

The latest pilot strike has led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and further heightened tensions between the parties.

Meanwhile, cabin crew have announced new industrial action from Wednesday to Thursday, DPA reported.

The independent flight attendants’ union UFO union said its members would walk out for two days, affecting all flights operated under the main Lufthansa brand from Frankfurt and Munich.

Cabin crew had already staged a one-day strike on Friday as part of the dispute over improved working conditions.

During the course of the conflict, Michael Niggemann, a member of the executive board responsible for human resources, warned unions against continuing a confrontational approach.

This marks the third wave of strikes in the ongoing dispute, with the central issue being demands for higher pension benefits.

Management at Lufthansa says the group’s core operations remain under pressure in terms of costs and competitiveness. According to Niggemann, the “Lufthansa Classic” division is not sufficiently competitive on a number of routes and cannot absorb further cost increases.

Both the UFO union and the pilots’ organisation Vereinigung Cockpit had already staged strike action in mid-February, leading to widespread flight cancellations. In mid-March, pilots carried out a further two-day strike, with the labour dispute still unresolved.