Air traffic Impact of strike at Lufthansa subsidiary Discover still open

A strike at Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines began on Tuesday night. Passengers can expect delays and cancellations. Three unions are vying for influence at the young company Discover.

This means that passengers can expect delays and flight cancellations, the extent of which cannot yet be predicted. The unions Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) and Ufo have called on the airline's crews to take part in a four-day strike, which is set to last until Friday. All departures from Germany are affected, the first were scheduled for early morning. A Ufo spokesperson confirmed the start of the strike during the night.

Discover Airlines announced that it was working to minimize the impact on passengers and to offer as many flights as possible. Passengers should regularly check their flight status and enter their contact details in their booking. Around 270 Discover flights on short, medium and long-haul routes from Frankfurt and Munich are planned during the four-day strike window, it said.

Lufthansa to reschedule flights

The company did not initially give a figure for the expected flight cancellations. The Ufo union expects Lufthansa to mitigate the impact of the strike by redistributing flights to other Group companies.

The vacation airline Discover Airlines, founded in 2021, has 27 aircraft with which it flies to vacation destinations in Europe and overseas. Around 1900 employees work on board.

Unions fight for influence

The background to the industrial action is a dispute with the trade union Verdi, which has concluded the first collective agreements for Discover's pilots and flight attendants at the fledgling airline. In addition to regular wage increases for both professional groups of between 16 and 38 percent by the end of 2027, the Verdi agreement includes provisions on bonuses and working hours, company pension schemes and assistance in the event of the loss of a flight license.

The demands of Ufo and VC hardly differ from the content of the agreement with Verdi, but the sector unions want to push through their own wage agreements. They believe that Verdi does not have enough members in flight operations and has been appointed as a collective bargaining partner by Lufthansa management. For the VC and Ufo unions, it is also a question of influence in the Lufthansa parent company, in which they are firmly rooted in terms of collective bargaining.

The VC pilots have already staged several rounds of strikes this winter. Ufo had also called on its members to strike in order to force negotiations.

SDA