BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Brussels Airlines, the Belgian subsidiary of Lufthansa, will cancel nearly 700 flights this summer, or about 6% of scheduled flights, to reduce the workload and thus avoid strikes, the airline said on Monday.
“We are responding today to the demands of the unions and we hope that this will rule out further actions (this summer),” Maaike Andries, spokesperson for Brussels Airlines, said by email.
“For long-term solutions, we will organize a meeting with the unions on August 23,” she added. The cancellations would result in a loss of revenue of 10.2 million euros, the airline said.
Unions of pilots and cabin crew at Brussels Airlines organized a three-day strike in June to protest against a workload deemed too high.
Strikes and staff shortages are disrupting the operation of European airports and forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.
In France, the trade unions of the ADP group have filed a new strike notice for the period from July 8 to 10 after a strike movement led to the cancellation of many flights at Roissy-Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport last weekend.
($1 = 0.9565 euros)
(Report Charlotte Van Campenhout and Marine Strauss, French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Sophie Louet)
Copyright © 2022 Thomson Reuters