London/Berlin
CNN
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Germany’s largest airline has warned that ongoing strikes by 1000’s of its floor workers and airport staff might damage its earnings this quarter, after walkouts earlier this yr already price the corporate greater than $100 million.
Lufthansa Group, which owns German flag provider Lufthansa and several other smaller airways together with Austrian Airways and Eurowings, stated Thursday that it anticipated to undergo an even bigger working loss within the first three months of 2024 than a yr in the past, partly due to the economic motion.
Strikes by Lufthansa’s floor workers over the previous few weeks have thus far price the corporate almost €100 million ($109 million) in direct prices, chief monetary officer Remco Steenbergen stated at a press convention Thursday.
The strikes have additionally discouraged quite a few prospects from reserving flights — notably last-minute ”worthwhile” flights — leading to a ”important gross sales loss” for the corporate, he added.
The bumpy begin to the yr follows a stellar 2023. Lufthansa Group reported working revenue of round €2.7 billion ($2.9 billion) — the third-biggest in its historical past, and up 76% from 2022.
The warning of extra losses got here on the identical day as 1000’s of the airline’s floor workers staged recent strikes, forcing flights to be canceled. Their motion was timed to coincide with a walkout by safety workers that closed Frankfurt airport — one of many world’s busiest hubs for worldwide air journey.
The commercial motion “will trigger main disruptions and flight cancellations all through the day, (and) safety checkpoints will stay closed,” the airport stated in a press release on its Fb web page Wednesday.
Safety workers at Hamburg and Dusseldorf airports have additionally walked off the job.
The Verdi union, which represents 25,000 Lufthansa floor workers, had called for them to go on strike from early Thursday and till Saturday morning. The union, which is pushing for a 12.5% pay rise or at the very least €500 ($545) extra a month for the employees, stated the newest spherical of negotiations with Lufthansa had fallen by.
The corporate stated Wednesday that between 80% and 90% of its flights could possibly be disrupted Thursday and Friday, impacting greater than 200,000 passengers.
Marvin Reschinsky, a negotiator for Verdi, stated Monday that it was “inconceivable” to consider that Lufthansa could possibly be so financially profitable whereas “staff on the bottom, with hourly wages of generally €13 ($14), now not even understand how they can make ends meet in the most costly cities in Germany.”
That monetary success means the airline group can pay shareholders a dividend for the primary time since 2019, it stated in its results announcement Thursday.
Michael Niggemann, Lufthansa’s head of human sources, stated Monday that the corporate was ready to barter with Verdi at quick discover, and that it had already made a suggestion in response to the union’s calls for.
“The financial injury is already monumental, and all prospects undergo from these strikes,” he added at Thursday’s press convention.
The strikes are simply the newest in a wave of industrial action in Germany, famed for its sturdy authorized protections for staff, and comply with walkouts by prepare drivers in January over wages.
Ensuing journey chaos this yr has compounded the gloomy outlook for Europe’s largest economic system, which shrank in 2023 for the primary time for the reason that onset of the pandemic, because it grappled with excessive vitality costs and weak demand for its items at house and overseas.
The Worldwide Financial Fund predicts Germany would be the slowest-growing main economic system this yr, eking out an enlargement of simply 0.5%.
GDL, the German commerce union representing rail staff, additionally stated its members have been happening strike Thursday and Friday. Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s state-owned rail operator, stated it anticipated the economic motion to have a “large” influence on its operations.
Chris Stern in Berlin and Olesya Dmitracova, Eve Brennan and Rob North in London contributed reporting.