BERLIN (Reuters) – Lufthansa’s budget airline Eurowings was operating only half its flights planned for Thursday as pilots held a one-day strike for improved working conditions after failed talks.
About 30,000 passengers are affected, according to Eurowings, which said it is preparing to return to normal flight operations right after the strike is set to end at midnight.
The action affects only Eurowings Germany flights, not those of Eurowings Europe, said the airline, which employs more than 800 pilots between the two operations.
Pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), which announced the strike on Tuesday after 10 rounds of talks failed to lead to any considerable convergence, wants Eurowings to ease pilots’ workloads by, for example, increasing their rest periods.
VC did not say how many pilots took part in the strike.
“There are no plans for further labour disputes at the moment. But that cannot be ruled out,” VC spokesperson Matthias Baier told Reuters.
A Eurowings board member, Kai Duve, said in a statement earlier this week that the demands endanger the viability of the airline.
(Reporting by Klaus Lauer and Ilona Wissenbach, Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Rachel More)
