Lufthansa ups pay offer for pilots

Pilots ground Lufthansa over pay demands

Lufthansa will make pilots an increased pay offer after a strike grounded 112 domestic flights on Wednesday morning.

The pilots' union, United Cockpit, called the strike after eight weeks of talks over a pay increases of 18 - 30% broke down last Thursday.

"This action was only a signal to say that Lufthansa should start thinking about giving us an offer," said a union spokesman.

Lufthansa responded by dismissing the strikes as "uncalled for" and confirmed it would offer pilots an unspecified pay increase at talks on Monday.

The airline said about 10,000 passengers were affected by the cancellations.

Strike demands

The pilots claim their salaries are 30% below the worldwide average after management decided to abolish the 13-months pay per year salary structure to cut personnel costs.

Ground crew won concessions from Lufthansa after strike

United Cockpit represents about 6,500 pilots from all airlines across Germany. About 3,500 of them work for Lufthansa.

It is the second time that industrial action has hit the carrier in less than a week.

Warning strikes by 9000 ground and cabin crew last Friday pushed management into increasing a pay offer to 3.5% and offer a bonus over a 14-month period.

Earlier this month Lufthansa reported a better than expected 44% increase in 2000 profits of 1.04bn euros ($948m, £678.7m).