Court upholds Lufthansa bid to halt pilot strikes

FRANKFURT • Deutsche Lufthansa AG won a legal victory in a long-running labour dispute with its pilots when a German court upheld its effort to halt strikes that have led to more than 1,000 flights being cancelled this week.

Pilots at Lufthansa had gone on a second day of strikes yesterday, grounding around 1,000 flights and affecting 140,000 passengers, and said there would be more strikes if management did not improve its offer in a row over cost cutting.

The pilots were striking over retirement benefits, pay and Lufthansa's plans to expand low-cost operations.

But an appeals court in Frankfurt, Germany, has now issued an injunction that requires the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union to halt the strikes.

The order reverses an initial ruling that the walkout is not a disproportionate protest.

An appeal against the decision is not allowed, the court said.

Lufthansa had listed 56 cancelled arrivals or departures today because crew or aircraft were not in their assigned locations.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 10, 2015, with the headline Court upholds Lufthansa bid to halt pilot strikes. Subscribe