Airlines

Lufthansa, strikes coming after pilots' vote in favour

No date was set by the Vereinigung Cockpit union after the consultation. On the stock exchange the share price plummets by 6.4 per cent

by Mara Monti

30 September 2025

1' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

1' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Pilots of the German airline Lufthansa voted in favour of a strike as a protest against the pension reform proposed by management with the risk of a new wave of flight disruptions and cancellations.

The union Vereinigung Cockpit said that about 88% of Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo pilots supported the union's position. The vote was called on 12 September after the failure of negotiations with management over pension plan costs. Lufthansa fell 6.4 per cent in Frankfurt trading, its worst since early April.

The union, which represents about 9,600 employees of German airlines, did not immediately set dates for possible abstentions. Lufthansa pilots last went on strike in 2022.

The potential strike comes at a time when the carrier is grappling with delays in aircraft deliveries, geopolitical tensions that make bookings unstable, and rising taxes and fares.

So far, the airline has resisted union demands and threatened to transfer jobs to its cheaper subsidiaries, Discover and City Airlines.

'The focus must continue to be on solutions that are compatible with the economic performance of Lufthansa Classic,' Michael Niggemann, head of human resources at Lufthansa, said in a statement. 'Our goal for future negotiations remains to ensure the future profitability of the core Lufthansa Classic brand in the long term.

However, this threat opens the door to further costly and destabilising industrial action for Lufthansa, which has already faced several challenges on the labour front in recent years.

CEO Carsten Spohr's plan to increase profitability includes more integration between the airlines and cutting 4,000 jobs in administration.