The negotiations between Vereinigung Cockpit, the union representing pilots, and Lufthansa for the renewal of the collective agreement regarding the pension scheme have collapsed. Consequently the union has announced the convening of a consultation among its members with the possibility of calling a strike.

Andreas Pinheiro, president of Vereinigung Cockpit, denounced the absence of a genuine willingness on the company’s part to realign pension provisions to levels deemed sustainable. According to the president, instead of proposing shared solutions the company put forward only financial schemes that shift additional burdens onto workers. The official also called Lufthansa’s position contradictory: on the one hand the company has posted billion‑euro profits and paid dividends, while on the other it invokes funding limits when it comes to ensuring adequate pension provisions for flight personnel. For this reason the bargaining committee has asked the union’s executive board to proceed with a vote on strike action. Historically, until 2017 pilots benefited from a traditional company pension with guaranteed benefits. At the company’s behest that mechanism was replaced by a market‑based scheme which, the union says, delivers significantly lower benefits compared with the previous regime, exposing future retirees to greater return risk.