Lufthansa pilots to strike on long-haul flights on Tuesday: union

FRANKFURT - Agence France-Presse

Picture taken on April 2, 2014 shows aircraft of German airline Lufthansa in park position at the airport in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany due to a strike of pilots. AFP Photo

Pilots with Germany's Lufthansa will stage a strike on long-haul flights on Sept. 30, their latest walkout in the ongoing dispute with management over early retirement provisions, their union said.
      
Vereinigung Cockpit called on its members to strike on long-haul flights departing from Frankfurt between 8:00 am and 11:00 pm (0600-2100 GMT) on Tuesday.        

The strike would affect services on Airbus A380, A330 and A340 and Boeing 747 aircraft, the union said.        
"We feel compelled to take further industrial action as Lufthansa management has failed so far to table an offer worthy of compromise," Cockpit said.        

"We remain open to a deal in order to avert strikes and we regret any inconvenience caused to customers," it added.        

Lufthansa said up to 56 flights from Frankfurt could be affected by the strike.
      
"We can't say at this point exactly how many will actually be cancelled," a spokesman told AFP.
      
"We also have long-haul flights leaving from Duesseldorf and Munich and these won't be affected," he said.        

"We're doing all we can to ensure as many flights as possible can actually take off. We're currently working on a contingency timetable, which we plan to publish in the next couple of hours," the spokesman added.        

The stoppages are the fourth set of walkouts in recent weeks.        

The first strike at the end of August hit Lufthansa's low-cost subsidiary Germanwings. The second walkout a week later affected domestic and regional services landing at or taking off from Frankfurt and the third stoppage targeted Munich airport, Germany's second-busiest air hub.
      
Lufthansa pilots can currently take paid early retirement from the age of 55. They are fighting a plan by the airline to raise the minimum age and to involve pilots in the financing of their pensions.