The UFO trade union has called Lufthansa cabin crew to a one-day warning strike on Friday, urging members of both Lufthansa and its CityLine regional subsidiary to down tools from midnight until 10 p.m. UFO said the action will target all departures from Germany’s two busiest airports, Frankfurt and Munich. CityLine cabin crews will strike at nine airports — Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Cologne-Bonn, Düsseldorf, Berlin and Hanover — in the same time window.
The move follows a late-March members’ vote in which 94% of Lufthansa members and 99% of CityLine members backed strike action after negotiations stalled. Talks are focused on working conditions for roughly 19,000 Lufthansa cabin crew and on social provisions for about 800 CityLine staff, whose roles are threatened amid a restructuring and phase-out at CityLine.
UFO chairman Joachim Vazquez Bürger said the union intentionally excluded the Easter bank holidays from its measures to limit disruption, but acknowledged the strike could still affect holiday return travel and expressed regret for that. He put responsibility for the dispute on Lufthansa, accusing the airline of failing to present an offer “worthy of negotiation.” The union said it had offered an unofficial grace period to Lufthansa last weekend.
Lufthansa urged UFO to return to the negotiating table, saying acceptable solutions can only be found through dialogue and that strikes should be a last resort. The airline noted the timing would affect travelers returning at the end of the Easter holidays and said it was ready to resume talks at any time.
The cabin crew dispute is one of several labour conflicts at Germany’s flag carrier. Lufthansa is also in talks with the pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit; pilots and crew have staged several strikes this year, with pilots striking in mid-March and the two unions coordinating actions earlier in the year to increase impact.