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Lufthansa walkout

September 9, 2014

Lufthansa pilots are stepping up their fight against curbs in their pension benefits with strike action at Munich Airport on Wednesday. The walkout would coincide with the end of the summer holidays in Bavaria.

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Symbolbild Lufthansa Pilotenstreik vom 05.09.2014
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

The strike at Munich airport will last from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday, according to the pilots' union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC).

Lufthansa's management said the planned action was "absolutely incomprehensible" and accused the union of deliberately setting the date to coincide with the end of summer holidays in the state of Bavaria.

The labor union, however, says Lufthansa had not presented a "viable compromise" yet. At the moment, Lufthansa's pilots can retire aged 59 at the company's expense. Lufthansa wants to gradually raise the retirement age to 61.

Pilots are also asking for a 10-percent pay rise.

Last week, the pilots' union staged a six-hour strike at Frankfurt Airport, leading to the cancellation of 218 flights from both Lufthansa and the company's budget airline, Germanwings.

ng/nz (AFP, dpa)