Lufthansa is canceling almost its entire program because of the announced pilot strike on Friday.

Around 800 flights with an estimated 130,000 affected passengers are canceled at the Munich and Frankfurt hubs, the company announced on Thursday.

The pilots’ union “Vereinigung Cockpit” had previously announced a day-long industrial dispute for this Friday, September 2nd, late on Wednesday evening.

The board of directors decided this after intensive negotiations with the company and at the request of the collective bargaining committee, as a spokesman said.

The official reason is the failed negotiations on a new collective wage agreement from the point of view of the union.

A subsequent round of exploratory talks behind closed doors and an improved offer from the company from last week did not produce any results either.

Most recently, a last attempt at negotiations this Wednesday was unsuccessful.

The "Vereinigung Cockpit" (VC) says it wants salary increases of 5.5 percent in the current year and automatic inflation compensation from next year.

Lufthansa criticized the call for a strike by the pilots' union.

"We have absolutely no understanding of VC's call for a strike," said HR Director Michael Niggemann on Thursday. "The employers have made a very good and socially balanced offer - despite the lingering effects of the Corona crisis and uncertain prospects for the global economy." 

According to this, the company recently offered an increase in the monthly basic salary by a flat rate of 900 euros.

Based on the term of 18 months, this would result in increases of 18 percent for young professionals and 5 percent for captains in the final stage.

Controversy over corporate strategy

In the background, there is also a conflict about the future corporate strategy.

In the past, VC had had the exact number of 325 aircraft guaranteed, which could only be flown by the approximately 5,000 captains and first officers who were subject to the group collective agreement.

Under the impression of the Corona crisis, Lufthansa had terminated the corresponding agreement and started to set up a new flight operation (AOC) with lower tariff conditions under the crane logo.

The new airline, known internally as "Cityline 2", is to take over numerous flights from the previous core company in European traffic.

According to VC, 97.6 percent voted in favor of the labor dispute in the Lufthansa passage, and at the smaller Lufthansa Cargo it was even 99.3 percent.

According to the union, participation was over 93 percent in both flight operations.

Approval from more than 70 percent of all those entitled to vote was required.

All Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo departures from Germany are to be struck, as VC announced.

"In order to use labor disputes, Lufthansa must present a significantly improved offer," explained VC tariff boss Marcel Gröls.

The pilots' union has also prepared to strike at the largest Lufthansa subsidiary, Eurowings, with its around 100 aircraft.

According to the ballot counted on Wednesday, 97.9 percent voted in favor of a possible labor dispute.

However, there is still a negotiation date in the coming week, so that no specific strike date was initially given for Eurowings.

The pilots' strike is another setback for Lufthansa.

Due to a lack of staff in ground handling, the airline had to cancel thousands of flights during the peak travel season.

The airline's share started on the stock exchange with a minus of 2 percent.