Eurowings Pilots Begin Strike Over Workload

By Dave Simpson
Eurowings Pilots Begin Strike Over Workload

Pilots at Lufthansa's Eurowings began a three-day strike on Monday 17 October over working hours, their union said, confirming action that could affect thousands of the budget airline's passengers.

Details

"It's begun. And so far there is no new offer," said a spokesperson for the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots' union.

The union wants the carrier to ease pilot workloads through measures such as increased rest periods, but Eurowings warned over the weekend that the demands put jobs at risk.

The airline had said it would cancel nearly 170 of about 400 scheduled flights at airports in Duesseldorf, Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart on Monday 17 October, affecting roughly 20,000 travellers.

Tuesday And Wednesday Cancellations

It expects to cancel a similar number of flights on Tuesday 18 October and Wednesday 19 October. The walkout is due to end at 11.59 pm local time (2159 GMT) on Wednesday 19 October.

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UPDATE 2-Tens Of Thousands Of Passengers Affected By First Day Of Eurowings Strike

The above news was folloed by the following update:

Pilots at Lufthansa's Eurowings began a three-day strike over working hours, their union said, affecting tens of thousands of the budget airline's passengers on Monday 17 October.

"It's begun. And so far there is no new offer," said a spokesperson for the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots' union.

The union wants the carrier to ease pilot workloads through measures such as increased rest periods, but Eurowings warned over the weekend that the demands put jobs at risk.

The airline said about 240 out of 488 flights have been cancelled at airports in Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin and Stuttgart, affecting about 25,000 passengers on the strike's first day.

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It expects to cancel a similar number of flights on Tuesday 18 October and Wednesday 19 October. The walkout is due to end at 11:59 pm local time (2159 GMT) on Wednesday 19 October.

Eurowings pilots had held a one-day strike for improved working conditions at the start of October, affecting about 30,000 passengers and the cancellation of about 250 flights.

News by Reuters, edited by Hospitality Ireland. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.