Despite the Corona crisis and the Ukraine war, Lufthansa and its pilots cannot agree on a plan for the future. Instead, it should judge a new airline, of which the customers will notice as little as possible.
In the strategy dispute with its regular pilots, Lufthansa is opting for the establishment of a new airline that could take over key tasks from the previous core company in European traffic.
According to its own information, the MDax group is driving forward the planning for a new flight operation (AOC) under German law. A four-day collective bargaining meeting in Wiesbaden with the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union last week failed to reach a fundamental agreement.
Short-term agreements expire
The planned operation is to handle feeder flights for the Munich and Frankfurt hubs and offer jobs for the previously unemployed pilots of the subsidiary Germanwings, which was hired in the Corona crisis, according to a letter to the workforce that became known in Frankfurt on Tuesday. It is about 240 pilots who otherwise face dismissal at the end of March. According to VC, the group wants to use the Lufthansa brand name for the new flight operations.
At the end of this month, the short-term agreements on short-time work and restructuring contributions for the approximately 5,000 pilots at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo will expire. The group had declared a few weeks ago that it would not lay off up to 1,100 employees, despite a surplus of staff. However, this would require agreements on the pilots of Germanwings and Lufthansa Cargo, which could also be achieved through general cost savings in the cockpits.
So far, VC has always fiercely resisted attempts to outsource the core business under the Lufthansa brand to other airlines whose pilots earn less. Nevertheless, the business of Eurowings and the long-haul subsidiary Eurowings Discover, which intends to continue hiring pilots, has been expanded. In addition, the subsidiary Lufthansa Cityline also flies supplier connections to the hubs with smaller aircraft.
partial settlements
VC President Stefan Herth described the strategy of constantly founding and closing new platforms as short-sighted and uncreative. “Instead, Lufthansa should definitely concentrate on improving its product quality and on more efficient structures instead of looking for salvation in ever new platforms.” The Lufthansa Group must be completely realigned.
VC collective bargaining board member Marcel Gröls spoke out against an additional “Lufthansa light”: “Further fragmentation of the tariff landscape is not in our interest and cannot be in the interest of Lufthansa either. We are therefore working on a common path that offers solutions for all employee groups in the group cockpits.»
According to Lufthansa and VC, partial agreements were reached last week. The approximately 20 flight instructors at the downsized Bremen commercial pilot school are to be taken over by Lufthansa. A severance program at the freight company still needs to be discussed. Further appointments have been made. Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr wants to present the consolidated balance sheet for 2021 next Thursday.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
