After Lufthansa’s pilot union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), announced a strike that will affect flights on March 12 and March 13, one board member of the Lufthansa Group called the labor action “completely incomprehensible,” especially when the airline industry is experiencing high levels of geopolitical uncertainty.
In a statement on March 11, 2026, Michael Niggemann, the board member of Lufthansa Group responsible for Human Resources and Legal Affairs, said that the escalation by VC “is completely incomprehensible.”
“Especially not at a time when we are experiencing a new level of geopolitical uncertainty with the war in Iran, and passengers worldwide are affected.”
According to Niggeman, VC’s strike is also confusing because the German airline already offers a “high level of company pension provision at Lufthansa Classic, which guarantees very good retirement security both in an internal comparison within the Lufthansa Group and with other airlines, industries, and companies.”
The board member continued that the pension scheme has been improved over the past two years, which, given the low operating profit of Lufthansa, “there is no scope for further increases,” and strikes will not change the situation, Niggeman pointed out.
“We have offered pay increases to the pilots of our subsidiary Lufthansa Cityline,” where strikes are “unnecessary” because the company has shown willingness to find a compromise, Niggeman stated.
“Instead of further worsening the development opportunities for Lufthansa Classic through strikes, we should rather enter into discussions about modernization and the future size of the fleet, which will have a direct and immediate impact on the career prospects of pilots.”
Lufthansa is currently drawing up a special flight schedule for the strike, which will begin at 00:01 local time (UTC +1) on March 12 and end at 23:59 on March 13. The strike will only affect the operations of Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine, while Discover Airlines and Lufthansa City Airlines will operate a normal flight schedule.
Meanwhile, VC argued that it decided to strike because of “failed collective bargaining negotiations on remuneration issues at Lufthansa CityLine, and secondly, on the company pension scheme for pilots at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo.”
Andreas Pinheiro, the President of VC, said that while the union would rather not escalate, Lufthansa has not presented an offer on the table. “It doesn’t help if the other side only signals a willingness to talk but doesn’t want to discuss substantial improvements to the company pension scheme,” he added.
Until 2017, pilots received a traditional company pension. It was replaced by a capital market-financed model, which has fallen short of the previous pensions’ levels, VC detailed. The change was made at “the employer's insistence.”
VC said that the strikes would not affect Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine’s flights to the Middle East.
Previously, on March 2, the union said that it would not strike during that week, arguing that “the current tense global political situation and the associated uncertainties, the VC sees itself as having a special responsibility for the stability and reliability of the air transport system.”
Rytis Beresnevicius
