Lufthansa pilots extend strike to long-haul services

Lufthansa pilots, on strike since Monday (Oct 20), extended their industrial action to include long-haul flights on Tuesday, grounding almost all inbound and outbound services at Germany's usually busy Frankfurt airport.

In the ninth walkout by its pilots since April, the German airline said it has cancelled 1,511 flights over the two days of the stoppage, with some 166,000 passengers affected.

Nevertheless, the situation in Frankfurt, Germany's busiest airport, was relatively calm because around 90,000 passengers had been informed in advance via email or text message, a Lufthansa spokesman said.

The strike started on Monday at 1pm (7pm Singapore time), initially on short and medium-haul services, but was extended to include long-haul flights at 6am (noon) on Tuesday. The walkout was scheduled to end at 11.59pm on Tuesday (5.59am Wednesday).

The pilots are striking over plans by management to raise the age at which pilots are able to take early retirement. At present, pilots are allowed to retire at 55 and receive up to 60 per cent of their pay until they reach the statutory retirement age.

Travellers in Germany already faced separate strikes by train drivers at the weekend.

In an interview with the mass-circulation daily Bild, transport minister Alexander Dobrindt complained that the repeated strikes were "killing" the economy. "Our transport axes are our country's central nervous system ... a long-lasting blockade will cause a greal deal of damage to the economy," the minister said.

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German pilots strike after weekend rail chaos

Lufthansa pilots launched a strike on Monday (Oct 20), deepening Germany's travel chaos after train drivers stopped work at the weekend just as school holidays began in much of the country.

The top-selling Bild daily complained that "ping-pong strikes are crippling our economy", Europe's biggest, as about 10,000 pilots and 20,000 train drivers had "taken hostage" 80 million Germans.

The German Industry Federation charged that the pilots strike, following the "disproportionate" railway stoppage, "harms the entire economy" by hitting logistics, tourism and business travel.

The government said the strikes will certainly "impact some sectors of the economy", though there was no reason to change Germany's 2014 growth forecast, which was lowered this month to 1.2 percent.

Pilots for Lufthansa, Europe's biggest airline, said they would broaden strike action to long-haul flights on top of previously announced stoppages on short- and medium-length routes.

The industrial action on Monday and Tuesday was expected to affect more than 200,000 passengers on 1,400 flights, said Lufthansa, advising passengers to check for updated information on its website.

Pilots stopped short- and medium-haul flights departing between 1100GMT Monday and 2159GMT Tuesday (between 6pm Monday and 4.59am Wednesday Singapore time), as well as intercontinental flights scheduled to leave Tuesday between 0400GMT and 2159GMT (between 11am Tuesday and 4.59am Wednesday Singapore time).

The strike will not affect Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines or Germanwings, the low-cost carrier whose pilots staged a 12-hour strike last week.

Pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) launched its eighth action in recent months in a bid to keep an early retirement scheme that management wants to phase out to reduce costs.

INFRASTRUCTURE PARALYSED

The stoppages come as autumn school holidays start in seven of Germany's 16 states and are ongoing in two more. "Now, during the holiday period, I think this is pretty brazen," one affected air passenger told NTV television, though he said he understood that "everyone has interests they want to promote".

Lufthansa accused the union of bringing Germany to "a standstill" and sought to draft in pilots working in management positions to ensure a third of scheduled services still operate. The airline labelled the strike "incomprehensible and disproportionate" and demanded legislation against actions that cripple large parts of Germany's travel infrastructure.

Lufthansa spokesman Andreas Bartels said the company wants new "rules of the game for such labour disputes, which are needed especially in infrastructure-critical" sectors of the economy. Berlin is working on legislation to stop small groups of employees from paralysing large parts of the transport system, and a draft law is expected in November.

The flight chaos compounded weekend disruptions when train drivers halted at least two-thirds of passenger and cargo services nationwide. The GDL train drivers' union launched their biggest stoppage since 2008 in demand for more pay, shorter hours and the right to also represent conductors and other rail personnel.

GDL chief Claus Weselsky announced a seven-day pause, but warned of more stoppages after that if rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) does not offer "real negotiations". His union earlier rejected an offer of a five-percent wage increase over 30 months.

DB said the strike had caused damage "in the tens of millions of euros" due to lost business, reimbursement payments, extra staffing for a customer hotline and hotel and taxi vouchers for many customers.

As train carriages stood idle, it said, "vandals took advantage and sprayed graffiti on 69 suburban train cars at eight stations in Berlin alone", also defacing trains in Hamburg, Leipzig and elsewhere. DB personnel chief Ulrich Weber charged that the small union "has not moved one millimetre, has applied pressure, angered millions of customers and damaged the company".

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Air France estimates strike cost at US$632m

Struggling French flag carrier Air France on Wednesday (Oct 8) said last month's two-week strike would have an impact of around €500 million (US$632 million) on its bottom line for this year.

Taking into account the lost revenue during the strike and the knock-on impact of disgruntled passengers staying away in future, the impact over 2014 will be "in the order of €500 million", said financial director Pierre-Francois Riolacci. "We need a few more days to finalise completely our estimates. But we think the impact on the third quarter will be in a range of €320 to €350 million," Riolacci said.

He warned the knock-on consequences were harder to put a figure on but said there would be an impact both on the last quarter of the year and the first part of next year as Air France, Europe's second-largest airline, battles to win back its reputation.

"We made some savings (like in aviation fuel) because the planes were not flying," he noted. "On the other hand, we had additional costs: putting passengers up, compensation or buying tickets from our competitors for some of our passengers, which we did not always get at the best price," he said.

Pilots at Air France waged the longest strike in the company's history between Sep 15 and 28 in protest at the group's plans to expand its low-cost subsidiary Transavia France. The airline sees the development of Transavia France as crucial to compete in the cut-throat world of aviation which has been revolutionised by the arrival of low-cost operators like easyJet and Ryanair.

But the pilots, some of whom earn up to €250,000 per year, were worried their flights could be replaced by Transavia services or that the company would seek to use the cheaper Transavia pilots.

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Lufthansa pilots' strike grounds around 20,000 passengers

A new walkout by Lufthansa pilots on Tuesday (Sep 30) forced the cancellation of 50 flights in Frankfurt, Germany's busiest airport, affecting roughly 20,000 passengers, the airline said.

Flights in and out of the hub were being affected but a company spokesman said the situation was calm and that Lufthansa was confident it would operate all 32 flights it had promised would take off.

In its fourth labour action in recent weeks, the pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit called on its members to strike on long-haul flights departing from the airport between 8am and 11pm (2pm Tuesday and 5am Wednesday Singapore time). Affected were flights operated on Airbus A380, A330 and A340 aircraft, as well as Boeing 747 jets. "The situation in Frankfurt is calm. It seems like a normal day," the spokesman told AFP.

Lufthansa's pilots are striking over changes to their retirement benefits being introduced as part of deep restructuring in recent years to bring down the German carrier's costs. Pilots can currently take paid early retirement from the age of 55. They are fighting a plan by the airline to raise the minimum age and to involve pilots in the financing of their pensions.

Tuesday's work stoppage was the fourth by the pilots' union in recent series of bottom-line-hitting operations. The first strike at the end of August hit Lufthansa's low-cost subsidiary Germanwings. The second walkout hit Frankfurt and the third stoppage targeted Munich airport, Germany's second-busiest air hub.

Vereinigung Cockpit already grounded thousands of Lufthansa flights during three days of strikes in March and April, costing the airline around 60 million euros (US$76 million).

Many of Europe's older airlines are running into opposition from powerful unions as they try to cut costs to compete with budget rivals. On Sunday, Air France's main pilots' union ended the longest strike in the carrier's history to allow "calmer" talks to go ahead over the contentious issue of the airline's low-cost subsidiary Transavia.

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Air France pilots end record strike

Air France's main pilots' union Sunday (Sep 28) ended the longest strike in the carrier's history to allow "calmer" talks to go ahead over the contentious issue of the airline's low-cost subsidiary Transavia.

A spokesman for the SNPL union, Guillaume Schmid, told AFP the pilots were ending the protest - which has cost Air France more than 200 million euros (S$323 million) over the past two weeks - so that the negotiations over Transavia can proceed.

Air France sees Transavia's development as vital in the struggle to retain market share in the cutthroat medium-haul sector, which is steadily being overrun by no-frills airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair. But Air France pilots, who earn up to 250,000 euros a year, fear some of their flights will be replaced with services operated by Transavia, or their contracts will be squeezed by the expansion of the subsidiary.

Immediately after the pilots' union announced the end of the strike, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called on all sides to "regain the confidence of everyone and resume the development of Air France and its subsidiary Transavia, which is an asset". Valls said the 14-day strike was "misunderstood and penalised passengers, the company and the country's economy".

The protest saw half of Air France's fleet grounded, and cost the airline between 15 million and 20 million euros a day. Thousands of passengers had travel plans disrupted.

TALKS DEADLOCKED

On Friday, Valls ruled out a proposal by the pilots to lift the strike if an independent mediator was named to run the thorny negotiations. Talks over the issue have been deadlocked. The latest round, which ended early Sunday, "did not suit us," Schmid said. But he said the decision had been taken to lift the protest to allow discussions "in a calmer climate".

The pilots are fighting for a "single contract" across Air France-KLM and its subsidiaries to avoid being forced to accept less attractive working conditions at Transavia, which serves holiday destinations across Europe and the Mediterranean. A Transavia captain earns up to 160,000 euros a year but clocks up significantly more flights than one flying for Air France. Co-pilots on both airlines earn roughly the same amount at the beginning of their careers, according to sources.

The French state holds a 16 per cent stake in Air France-KLM, the second-largest European carrier after Germany's Lufthansa. Air France's share price plunged nearly 15 per cent since the stoppage began and the protest fuelled wide concern in France.

The strike was "catastrophic for the French aviation sector," a joint statement from key industry unions, including those representing travel operators, had warned. "In a more-than-morose economic context, it is compromising a future that is already seriously under threat," read the statement.

Air France has already implemented an ambitious restructuring plan to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

While the Air France management agreed to scrap the development of Transavia abroad, it has vowed to maintain at least some part of its plans to enter the low-cost market.

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Lufthansa pilots threaten new strikes as talks fail

German pilots' union Cockpit announced on Thursday (Sep 25) that talks with Lufthansa over early retirement provisions had crashed and warned a new wave of strikes could be expected with immediate effect.

"Cockpit regrets that negotiations have failed once again," the union said in a statement, accusing management of not wanting to reach an agreement. "Further industrial action can be expected with immediate effect. The public will be warned in advance," the statement said.

A spokesman for Lufthansa insisted that the airline had "signalled its willingness to compromise" and offered to talk about the contentious points. No new date had been set for further negotiations, however. "We appeal to the union not to go ahead with more industrial action and to return to the negotiating table," the spokesman said.

Following three separate days of walkouts in recent weeks, Lufthansa pilots agreed to postpone a fourth warning strike last week after receiving a new proposal from management.

Lufthansa pilots can currently take paid early retirement from the age of 55. They are fighting a plan by the airline to raise the minimum age and to involve pilots in the financing of their pensions.

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Union makes offer to end marathon Air France strike

Air France's main pilots' union offered to lift its crippling strike late Friday (Sep 26) if an independent mediator was named to run negotiations in a bitter battle over the fate of the company's low-cost subsidiary.

The SNPL union, in what it called a "gesture of appeasement", said it was "ready to end the conflict as soon as this mediator is named" by the government. The French prime minister's office told AFP there were "no grounds for new negotiations with a mediator".

Over half of Air France's planes were grounded for the 12th day running, and the strike was extended until at least Tuesday, after pilots blocked the most recent management proposals to scale back development plans for its low-cost Transavia airline.

The strike at Europe's second-largest flag carrier is costing an estimated €15 million to €20 million (US$19 million to US$25 million) a day. Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Friday renewed his call for the "unbearable" strike to end. Air France's share price has fallen nearly 15 per cent since the stoppage began. "This strike is catastrophic for the French aviation sector," read a joint statement from key industry unions, including those representing travel operators. "In a more-than-morose economic context, it is compromising a future that is already seriously under threat," read the statement.

Air France's management also rejected the idea of a mediator, and voiced surprise that pilots' representatives had left the negotiating table on Friday while "discussions were going well". "We aren't far from a solution," said spokesman Eric Schramm. He stressed however that the company was in an "extremely delicate" situation, losing €20 million each day of the strike.

The protracted strike, and fruitless negotiations, have also prompted anger among aviation staff grounded alongside their planes, around 200 of whom protested against the stoppage on Friday.

CONCESSIONS NOT ENOUGH

A concession from management to scrap plans to expand Transavia further into Europe was "necessary, but not enough" to stop the strike, SNPL spokesman Guillaume Schmid said on Friday. Schmid later called on the government to name an "independent mediator as quickly as possible". He blasted Air France-KLM chief executive Alexandre de Juniac for "his inability to carry out a respectful dialogue" with the unions.

The pilots are fighting for a "single contract" across Air France-KLM's subsidiaries to avoid being forced to accept less attractive working conditions at Transavia. Transavia currently serves holiday destinations across Europe and the Mediterranean.

Air France pilots, who earn up to €250,000 a year, fear some flights will be replaced with services operated by Transavia. They fear they will end up earning less and having shorter recovery times between flights. A Transavia captain earns up to €160,000 a year, although co-pilots on both airlines will earn roughly the same amount as each other at the beginning of their careers, according to sources.

LOW-COST A GROWTH OPPORTUNITY

While Air France management agreed to scrap the development of Transavia abroad, it has vowed to maintain at least some part of its plans to enter the low-cost market, a key "growth opportunity", according to de Juniac. The Air France-KLM board of directors has thrown its support behind management.

The withdrawal of plans to expand Transavia will come as a blow to the airline's efforts to be more competitive in the crowded and changing European skies, increasingly dominated by no-frills operators such as Irish airline Ryanair.

France's MEDEF employers' association said on Thursday the conflict at Air France - which is 16 per cent state-owned - encapsulated the malaise gripping the country's crisis-hit economy. The union action is "again dragging a company into the red", said MEDEF vice-president Jean-Francois Pillard. "For those who want to invest or travel in France, this does not contribute, at an already extremely difficult time, to improving the image of the country," he said.

Air France has already implemented an ambitious restructuring plan to reduce costs and improve efficiency. "Low-cost airlines now represent between 25 and 45 per cent of air traffic in Europe, depending on the country," said Didier Brechemier, an aviation expert at consultants Roland Berger.

Ryanair will soon expand its fleet to 400, which would take it above Air France's 350 aircraft. "With competitors like that it's not hard to see why Ryanair is the fastest-growing airline in Europe," company boss Michael O'Leary said dismissively of Air France's offer to put its expansion plans on ice.

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Pilots reject Air France offer to end strike

Air France pilots on Monday (Sep 22) rejected a last-ditch management attempt to end the longest strike at the airline since 1998 that is costing up to €20 million (US$25.7 million) every day.

The main pilots' union dismissed as a "smoke screen" the chief executive's offer to freeze the development of a subsidiary budget airline that management sees as vital to compete in the cut-throat aviation market. The management proposal "is nothing but a smoke screen that offers no more guarantees than previous offers and does not solve any problem," the SNPL union said in a statement.

Air France chief executive Alexandre de Juniac said earlier on Monday that this was the "last offer" to break the deadlock that has grounded on average 60 per cent of the French flag carrier's fleet.

The pilots are on strike in protest at the airline's plans to develop Transavia France, which serves holiday destinations, primarily in the Mediterranean. They fear the airline will attempt to replace expensive Air France pilots, who can earn up to €250,000 (YS$321,000) a year, with Transavia pilots, who are paid considerably less.

De Juniac offered "to suspend the plan to create Transavia subsidiaries in Europe until the end of the year" in order to have "a deeper dialogue" with pilots, but insisted the overall project could not be called into question.

Air France said the strike was costing them "up to €20 million per day" and said it would update its profit forecasts when the strike was over. "The pilots' strike has had disastrous consequences for customers, employees and the company's finances," the airline said in a statement.

Unions have threatened to extend the strike - already the longest in 16 years - until Friday unless their demands are met.

AIR FRANCE FATE 'AT STAKE'

Air France has made concessions - notably an offer to limit the Transavia fleet to 30 planes compared with 37 originally planned - but to no avail so far.

"This strike is becoming interminable," said Jean-Claude Delarue, president of a travellers' federation. "You have to ask yourself whether Air France will end up losing market share because travellers will end up going elsewhere," said Delarue.

The government has called several times for an end to the strike, with Prime Minister Manuel Valls warning that the image of the eurozone's second largest economy was at risk. Transport Minister Alain Vidalies warned over the weekend that "the fate of the company could be at stake". "The low cost (arena) is not a choice, it's an obligatory move, that's reality. I think pilots are fully aware of this," he told French radio.

Management has sent an email to its pilots to try to put an end to what it said were attempts of "intimidation" against pilots who were continuing to work. "Air France management will not tolerate any misdemeanour and will initiate steps necessary to punish those who engage in such acts," read the email, obtained by AFP.

The company also wrote to its passengers to express its "frustration" and "unhappiness". It asked customers who have booked a ticket before September 26 to delay their trip or change their flight free of charge.

In an apologetic message to its frequent flyers, the wider Air France-KLM group has said its aim was to offer "competitive" fares and Transavia was meant to complement Air France's operations without creating any "adverse impact on Air France staff".

Throughout the strike, the atmosphere at airports has been remarkably quiet, as the company has been warning travellers in advance that their flights are cancelled.

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Lufthansa flights grounded in new pilots' strike

 Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, said it will cancel 200 flights on Friday (Sep 5), affecting 25,000 passengers, as a consequence of a pilots' strike to be held later in the day.

The pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit has called for a six-hour walk-out between 5.00pm and 11.00pm (11pm to 5am, Singapore time) over plans to change the airline's early retirement policy. The industrial action is focusing on the country's biggest airport in Frankfurt and will ground most domestic and regional flights.

Lufthansa said individual flights would already be cancelled as early as 1.30pm (7.30pm, Singapore time) and most flights from 4.00pm (10pm, Singapore time). The airline promised to try and limit the impact of the strike for customers.

Lufthansa pilots can currently take paid early retirement from the age of 55. They are fighting a plan by the airline to raise the minimum age and to involve pilots in the financing of their pensions.

Last Friday, more than 100 flights were cancelled at several of Germany's main airports as pilots of Lufthansa's low-cost airline Germanwings also walked out. And on Monday, a union for German train drivers called for a three-hour walkout to turn up the pressure on management of the national rail operator Deutsche Bahn in gridlocked wage talks.

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French union calls off potentially-damaging pilots' strike

A potentially-damaging French pilots' strike has been called off at the last minute, the union organising the work stoppage said Friday, just days after Air France warned it risked hampering the airline's painstaking recovery.

The strike from May 3 to 30, which was called by the country's main SNPL pilots' union, would have seen pilots stop work at specific times every day, which Air France said would severely disrupt its medium- and long-haul flights.

On Friday, SNPL head Yves Deshayes said the union had decided to call off the strike "on the basis of (government) proposals" after representatives met with Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier -- a move welcomed by Air France chief Frederic Gagey.

The pilots had planned to protest against a law stipulating that those who strike must declare their intention to do so 48 hours before the start of a work stoppage.

The regulation was put in place to give airlines more time to warn passengers about flight disruptions, but the SNPL says it actually allows them to hire temporary replacement pilots from other European countries.

"The government recognised for the first time that these practices were not acceptable," Deshayes told reporters Friday, adding the government had made "a strong commitment" on looking to modify the law, although "no guarantees" had been given to the union.

Earlier this week, Air France chief Gagey had warned that the strike -- which had nothing to do with the airline itself -- was "taking place at a crucial time in Air France's recovery".

After six years of financial losses that led to radical cost-cutting measures including thousands of job cuts, the airline is aiming to generate a positive operating income this year -- a target it said could have been damaged by the strike.

On Friday, Gagey welcomed the cancellation of the strike, saying it was "excellent news for Air France clients and employees".

"Air France can now devote all its energy to pursuing its recovery."

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Lufthansa calls for reform of right to strike

The head of Lufthansa called for a reform of workers' right to strike on Friday as the biggest strike in the airline's history entered its third and final day.

While Lufthansa chief executive Christoph Franz insisted that the right to strike was a constitutional right, "from our point of view, there must be a guarantee that critical infrastructure is kept up and running.

"And that includes railways and air traffic control," Franz told the business daily Handelsblatt in an interview.

Lufthansa's pilots have been on strike since Wednesday, grounding most of the airline's flights and leaving as many as 425,000 passengers without a connection.

Lufthansa cancelled around 3,800 flights on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as a result of the walkout by pilots who are demanding better pay and retirement conditions.

While the walkout is expected to cost Lufthansa tens of millions of euros (dollars), no travel chaos has ensued because Lufthansa was able to warn passengers in advance and help them make alternative travel arrangements.

The strike has come under heavy fire from politicians and industry, but a poll by ARD public television showed that the majority of Germans supported the pilots' industrial action.

As many as 55 per cent of those surveyed said they understood the pilots' position versus 42 per cent against, the poll found.

Nevertheless, the level of support is still much lower than two years ago when 75 per cent of Germans said they understood a strike by cabin staff.

Lufthansa CEO Franz has said he expects services to return to normal on Saturday, even if there might be a few isolated disruptions for operational reasons.

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Lufthansa to cancel 3,800 flights due to pilots' strike

Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, said on Monday it will cancel most of its flights later this week due to a pilots' strike.

The carrier said in a statement: "As a result of the planned strike by the pilots' union Cockpit, around 3,800 flights will be cancelled on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

"During the three-day stoppage by Cockpit teams, there will only be around 500 short- and long-haul flights by Lufthansa and Germanwings."

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Chaos at Frankfurt airport as security staff strike

Passengers were advised on Friday not to bother turning up for flights at Frankfurt airport because of a one-day strike by security staff.

"We have asked passengers not to travel to the airport for now. As things currently stand, the legally required security checks cannot be carried out," a spokesman for airport operator Fraport told AFP.

The spokesman said that in total, 65 flights had officially been cancelled so far, out of a total 1,300 scheduled for the entire day.

The number of actual cancellations was comparatively small, because a large part of the traffic going through Frankfurt is transit or transfer traffic where passengers do not need to undergo security checks again.

However, even if flights are not officially cancelled, no other passengers turning up for them can board because no security checks are being carried out.

Germany's main airline, Lufthansa, said around two-thirds of its passengers were transit passengers.

"Flights aren't being cancelled to help keep operations up and running," a Lufthansa spokesman said.

Service industry union Verdi called on members employed by private security contractors to stay away from work between 0100 and 2200 GMT on Friday.

Verdi is fighting for an hourly wage rise to 16 euros ($22), calling an offer by employers of 10-13 euros "far too low".

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easyJet's Portugal pilots to strike Christmas-New Year

Pilots based in Portugal for the British lowcost airline easyJet announced on Friday they are to strike five days over the Christmas-New Year's period to demand better conditions.

"The easyJet pilots based in Lisbon have lodged strike notice for December 13, 24, 26 and 31 as well as for January 1," their SPAC union said in a statement.

The industrial action will see the 43 company pilots stopping work for 24 hours each time, with only a minimum service ensuring daily links to Portugal's Madeira archipelago, a sunny location in the Atlantic off the African coast which attracts winter tourism.

The pilots complain that easyJet is not respecting Portuguese labour law in terms of vacation leave and maximum working hours.

They also claim that the British budget airline is "taking advantage" of Portugal's fragile economy "to sacrifice its workers' labour conditions, especially those of its pilots who are the worst paid of all the company's European bases".

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Brussels Airlines' pilots suspend 2-day strike

Brussels Airlines' pilots on Tuesday suspended a two-day strike that grounded scores of flights in and out of the Belgian capital after reaching an agreement in principle with the carrier.

Traffic was to resume gradually after the cancellation of 100 flights on Monday, or over half the traffic, and of 71 flights on Tuesday, mostly across Europe but also connections with New York and Nairobi.

"We will negotiate with management until Friday, meaning the strike is suspended and not stopped," warned trade unionist Jean-Marc Lepied.

The agreement in principle reached in conciliation talks calls on management to "re-employ should they agree" pilots aged over 58 that management was pressing to retire in order to employ younger pilots in order to cut back on spending.

The airline is 45 per cent owned by Lufthansa and last year agreed a 100-million-euro (US$135 million) raft of savings with the unions.

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Flight chaos as French controllers strike over EU airspace plan

Hundreds of flights in France were cancelled Tuesday as air traffic controllers kicked off a three-day strike against EU plans to create a single European airspace.

Controllers across the continent are due to stage various protests such as working to rule on Wednesday against what the European Transport Workers' Federation calls "a never-ending process of liberalisation, deregulation and cost cutting."

The day of action, which will involve staff in 11 countries, centres around a decade-long attempt to create a single EU airspace that controllers fear will cut jobs and affect work conditions.

France has been hit by two separate actions. Tuesday's strike was called by one of the controllers' main unions and will last three days, while other unions will join Wednesday's Europe-wide movement only.

Some 1,800 flights were cancelled Tuesday -- just under a quarter of the daily average -- after authorities asked airlines to cut some flights in advance to avoid mayhem on the day.

The situation is "on the whole quite calm in airports", said a spokesman for the Directorate General for Civil Aviation, France's aviation authority.

But Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair blasted the work stoppage, saying passengers were being "taken hostage" and calling on the European Commission to put an end to controllers' strikes after it cancelled more than 100 flights.

Air France, meanwhile, said it expected all long-haul flights from Paris would go ahead, but did not exclude "last-minute delays and cancellations."

The work stoppage is just one of the planned strikes in France this week, with railway workers due to stop work from Wednesday evening until Friday morning, and postal service employees expected to strike Thursday.

The air traffic controllers' main union, the SNCTA, called the three-day strike to denounce "the direct consequences on national policies of European constraints" on the sector.

Other unions that also represent controllers are planning to join Wednesday's protest movement to protest mainly against the "Single European Sky", which aims to bring management of European airspace under EU control.

Fragmented country-by-country air control is estimated to bring extra costs of close to five billion euros (US$6.6 billion) a year to airlines and passengers in Europe.

It adds 42 kilometres to the distance of an average flight as controllers are not able to manage more than a certain amount of flights at the same time, thus also harming the environment and causing delays.

By way of comparison, the United States controls the same amount of airspace with more traffic at almost half the cost.

The European Commission wants to redesign the EU's 27 national airspaces into just nine bigger sectors, saying a "single" European sky would improve safety ten-fold, slash pollution by 10 percent and reduce costs by 50 percent.

It will put forward proposals later Tuesday to speed up the reform, amid strong resistance from unions.

"The problem doesn't lie in the 'single sky' regulations that aim to harmonise air traffic management at a European level, we're for that," said Olivier Joffrin of the USAC-CGT, one of the unions involved in Wednesday's strike.

"What we don't accept is that the Commission use this to privatise and liberalise some activities."

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A strike which hits France rather than the usual Germany. This is the culture of the Europeans which you will hardly see in Asia. The ones suffering the most will be passengers themselves. Perhaps the Europeans should start changing the way they handle issues so as to come to solutions in a more amicable way.

Cathay Pacific crews threaten no-smile, no-booze strike

Cathay Pacific flight crews may stop serving alcohol and smiling at passengers after voting in favour of industrial action during the Christmas holidays over a salary dispute, their union said Tuesday.

The Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union, which is demanding a five per cent salary increase from Hong Kong's flagship carrier, said the "work-to-rule" measures could also throw flight schedules into chaos.

"We will be selective in providing our services," union general secretary Tsang Kwok-fung told AFP, adding that the form and date of the action approved in Monday's vote is yet to be decided.

"This could include not smiling at passengers, not providing certain types of beverages -- such as alcohol -- or stop serving meals," he said.

"In a nutshell it means passengers will still be able to reach their destinations except they are paying a five-star price to get a three-star service," Tsang said.

Work-to-rule is a form of industrial action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract, sometimes adhering to safety or other regulations precisely in order to cause a slowdown.

"We will follow the rules strictly, such as offloading oversize luggage, that could cause a slowdown or even delay of flights," Tsang said.

The protest was sparked by Cathay's announcement last month that it was giving a two per cent pay rise to its employees in 2013, on top of a discretionary one-month bonus for 2012, falling short of the union's demand.

The 6,000-strong union at a special meeting on Monday told the carrier to resume negotiations or face the Christmas action and a possible full strike during the New Year holiday.

Cathay has insisted the union withdraw the threat to strike before re-opening talks, and asked its staff to be "considerate and understand the difficult situation" the airline is facing.

The carrier has been trying to trim costs after it fell into the red in the first half of this year with a HK$935 million ($121 million) loss, partly due to high fuel prices.

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Well at least the operations will not be as affected as a full strike. The ones on the disadvantaged side are the passengers who paid for full premium service but don't really get it. It's really a tough decision to make by CX. To give in or not??

  

Cathay Pacific crews threaten holiday strike

A union representing flight attendants of Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific on Tuesday threatened industrial action over a pay rise dispute, just weeks before the holiday season.

The airline announced on Friday a two percent pay rise for its employees in 2013, falling short of the five percent demanded by the 6,000-strong Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union, sparking protest from members.

"We will mobilise all our members to join in the industrial action," union vice chairman Julian Yau told reporters, after calling the rise "totally unacceptable" due to the high cost of inflation.

He urged the airline not to "force its workers to carry out actions that would be harmful to all", and said the union, which has not ruled out the possibility of a strike, will decide its next course of action in a meeting on Monday.

Responding to the threat, Cathay said the two percent adjustment, along with a discretionary one-month bonus for 2012, is a "fair, reasonable and competitive offer in view of the extreme challenges the airline is facing".

"I trust most of our cabin crew are considerate and understand the challenging situation the company is in," Cathay said in a statement.

The airline fell into the red in the first half of the year with a HK$935 million ($121 million) loss, partly due to high fuel prices.

SOURCE

In times like now, a strike isn't one of the best things to do. Employees should also be a little more understanding of the situation airlines are facing. Rough out the bad weather together and the days ahead will be better.