Frankfurt airport Lufthansa pilots to strike Tuesday

The union representing Lufthansa pilots announced Monday its members will stage an eight-hour strike at Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt on Tuesday after it failed to reach a compromise with management in a dispute about pensions. 

Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) said that its members will not fly any departures between 09:00 and 17.00 on long-distance flights on the Airbus A380, Boeing B747, Airbus A330 and Airbus A340.

The union, which represents 5,400 pilots at Lufthansa, criticized management for not offering any viable compromise in a dispute over the company's pension scheme and argued that it was left with no other option.

“Vereinigung Cockpit declares that it is open to an agreement anytime to end the strikes. We regret any possible inconvenience to customers,” the union said in a written statement.

VC has been in conflict with Lufthansa for months due to a major disagreement over plans to change the current scheme, which presently allows pilots to retire at the age of 59 - six years earlier than the official retirement age. According to the union, Lufthansa wishes to change this to two years before the official retirement age.

Last month the union staged two strikes at Frankfurt and Munich airports, leading to the cancellation of around 400 flights.