The strikes bring the major carriers of European skies to their knees. Yesterday the pilots of the German national airline Lufthansa (together with British Airways the largest in Europe) crossed arms for 15 hours, from 8 to 23, in what promises to be, according to announcements by the Cockpit union, as the beginning of a much larger unrest.
Driving the pilots to protest are the cuts in company pensions and payments to those who retire early. Measures considered fundamental by the top management of the company, called to put the accounts in order in the red of the last period and to face the increasingly fierce competition of the large Arab companies and low-cost carriers.
On September 28, however, the Air France pilots' union suspended the 14-day strike that had thrown the European skies into chaos, leaving thousands of passengers on the ground all over the world. The unrest cost the Franco-Dutch company about 280 million euros.
Even in this case, although the worst seems to be over, new unrest cannot be ruled out. In fact, the negotiations between the pilots' union and the company have not yet brought about an agreement. Above all, the question of the single contract for Air France pilots and the low-cost subsidiary Transavia remains on the table.
