German
airline Lufthansa has cancelled almost half of its long-haul flights, as pilots
strike for the second time in a week over retirement benefits.
Strikes
will take place between
02:00 GMT and 22:59 GMT on Thursday and will affect
long-haul and cargo flights.
The
pilots' union, Vereinigung Cockpit, announced plans for further strikes on
Tuesday, which Lufthansa said was "completely incomprehensible".
This
is the 10th strike for the airline since April.
The
airline's pilots oppose plans to phase out an early-retirement scheme.
Currently,
pilots are able to retire at the age of 55 and receive up to 60% of their pay
until the standard retirement age of 65.
Almost
50% of long-haul flights from Frankfurt and Munich airports will remain
grounded.
Lufthansa
Cargo will operate nine out of 15 flights.
Lufthansa
said the flights that went ahead would be staffed by volunteer pilots.
Businessday
No comments:
Post a Comment