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Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines plans strike

August 26, 2024

The four-day strike is scheduled to start on Tuesday, trade unions representing pilots and cabin crew said. Founded in 2021, the airline operates 27 aircraft from Munich and Frankfurt to a range of holiday destinations.

https://p.dw.com/p/4ju0m
Discover Airline - a subsidiary of Lufthansa.
Founded in 2021, the Lufthansa subsidiary operates a fleet of 27 aircraft across Europe and overseesImage: Arne Dedert/dpa/picture alliance

Pilots and cabin crew at the Lufthansa Group's holiday subsidiary Discover Airlines are set to go on strike, trade unions announced on Sunday.

The four-day strike at the airline, which was founded in 2021, starts on Tuesday, August 27, union officials said in Frankfurt. 

With all departures from Germany affected, the strike is set to cause severe disruptions to many people's travel plans in the latter part of the summer holiday season.

Check-in counters of Discover Airlines
Holiday plans are set to be severely disrupted by the four-day strikeImage: Helmut Fricke/dpa/picture alliance

Discover Airlines staff recently voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike after a conflict between unions representing airline workers.

Unions at loggerheads

The decision to strike was due to a conflict following negotiations with the Verdi union, which sealed the first collective agreements for Discover pilots and flight attendants.

But two other unions, Cockpit, which represents pilots, and UFO, which represents cabin crew, work closely together to bypass existing pay agreements struck between Lufthansa and Verdi, which they see as a competitor.

Cockpit and UFO argue that Verdi lacks sufficient membership within the airline's operations and was established as a bargaining partner by Lufthansa.

On Discover Airlines' website, there is a message for those who have already booked, or about to book, a flight.

"Trade unions Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) and Unabhängige Flugbegleiter Organisation (UFO) have called for a strike at Discover Airlines between August 27, 2024, and August 30, 2024. Please check your current flight status regularly and enter your contact details," the message reads.

Lufthansa's financial losses

Operating out of Frankfurt and Munich, Discover operates a fleet of 27 aircraft and its staff totals almost 2,000.

"Impacts on Discover Airlines flights will unfortunately be unavoidable in this context. We sincerely regret this circumstance," said UFO boss Joachim Vazquez Bürger. "We never take this path lightly, but as a last conceivable step, without exception."

At the end of April, Germany's flagship airline, Lufthansa, released its financial data for the first quarter of the year, which showed increased losses that it largely attributed to strikes.

Student pilots—the long route to the cockpit

jsi/rmt (AFP, dpa)