Luftfartsuro i Europa

Pilots Union Plans New Lufthansa Strikes

FRANKFURT-European airline passengers could face further disruption in their travel plans after the union representing pilots at Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Thursday that it was planning a new round of strikes. 

The airline's management and pilots union have been embroiled in a row over retirement benefits for more than two years. The Vereinigung Cockpit union said the latest breakdown in negotiations will lead to industrial action. Strike dates will be announced soon, the union said.

A spokeswoman for the German airline called on the union to refrain from walkouts. "The airline has shown willingness to compromise and offered to negotiate further on the issues of dispute," she said.

Last week, Lufthansa pilots called off plans to strike at the Frankfurt airport after the company published details of the retirement package it proposed to their union. 

The current dispute focuses on shifts in retirement benefits stemming from changes in mandatory retirement ages. Currently, pilots can retire and continue to receive 60% of their wages as of age 55. Lufthansa has said this early retirement benefits plan is antiquated, given recent changes in European Union laws, which now allow pilots to fly until age 65.

The airline has said it needs to raise its early retirement age to cut costs and ensure it remains competitive over time.

A strike at Lufthansa would add to the misery of European air travelers, who are already facing disruptions from a walkout by Air France-KLM pilots over the fate of Transavia, Air France's budget carrier.

Czech airline CSA to fire a third of its pilots

PRAGUE (AP) - Czech national carrier CSA says it is planning to fire a third of its pilots this year after passenger numbers from Russia and other former Soviet republics have declined due to the crisis in Ukraine.

CSA spokesman Daniel Sabik says the airline also plans to sell six Airbus A-320 planes for which it has no use. 

CSA pilots have protested, saying in a statement Wednesday that the plan to eliminate 77 pilots, 172 flight attendants and 66 administration workers threaten the airline's very existence.