No agreement in sight
Lufthansa threatens regular pilots with a new airline
03/01/2022 4:34 p.m
Lufthansa and its pilots cannot agree on a plan for the future. Now the dispute is escalating: the company is threatening to set up a rescue company for Germanwings pilots. This could then become its own airline if the union does not give in.
In the strategy dispute with its regular pilots, Lufthansa is opting for the founding 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.
The planned operation is to handle feeder flights for the Munich and Frankfurt hubs and offer jobs for the previously unemployed pilots of the Germanwings subsidiary, which was hired during the Corona crisis, according to a letter to the workforce. 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.
“Lufthansa light”
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.
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 collective bargaining landscape is not in our interest and cannot be in the interest of Lufthansa either. We are therefore working on a common path, solutions for all employees groups in the corporate 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.