Lufthansa cancels flights because of sick pilots

Due to a lack of pilots, Lufthansa canceled some intercontinental flights over Christmas. That is why rumors are circulating on the Internet about a go-slow strike.

The background to this is the tough negotiations that Lufthansa is currently conducting with the Vereinigung Cockpit union. Other airlines have also had strikes under the guise of sick leave in the past.

According to Lufthansa, six pairs of flights from a return flight are affected. In addition to a connection to Tokyo, it mainly hits US destinations such as Houston, Boston and Washington DC

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Lufthansa canceled a dozen long-distance flights over Christmas because too many pilots called in sick at the same time, they say. “We planned with a very large buffer. But that’s not enough for the extremely high sickness rate, “said a company spokesman on Thursday for the German Press Agency (dpa). He did not want to speculate about a connection with the highly contagious Corona variant Omikron, since Lufthansa was not informed about the type of diseases.

On the other hand, rumors are circulating on the Internet about another motive: a possible slow-down strike by the pilots. Their union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) is currently in a tough dispute with the company about the future cost structure at the parent company Lufthansa, which is threatened with the first corona-related layoffs from April. The VC also fears a severe downward trend in favor of cheaper group companies. Collective agreements were mutually terminated so that strikes are theoretically possible again from July.

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Such “sick outs” cannot actually be proven, but there have been a number of suspected cases in air traffic – also in the sphere of influence of the VC. On October 7, 2016, the entire Tuifly fleet, whose workforce did not want to be merged with other holiday airlines, was on the ground. In the agony of Air Berlin a year later, a noticeable number of pilots reported sick at the same time. An illegal warning strike under the protection of medical confidentiality could never be proven. The union declined to comment on Thursday.

Six pairs of outward and return flights were currently canceled between 23 and 26 December, as the Lufthansa spokesman reported. In addition to a connection to Tokyo, it primarily affects US destinations such as Houston, Boston and Washington DC In this traffic area, passengers could most easily be rebooked onto other flights. Previously, the portal “aero.de” reported on the staff shortages, which can only partially be met with volunteers.

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Affected is the sub-fleet of long-haul Airbus A330 / A340 aircraft, for which we are urgently looking for replacement pilots for the period up to the beginning of January. According to “aero.de”, the company warned in an internal circular: “Now, due to the increased disease rate, we are no longer able to manage all the trips. The crew dispatcher is already working on scenarios to thin out the flight plan. ”In addition to the sickness reports, quarantine obligations also make personnel planning more difficult.

With material from the dpa

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