Frankfurt, Germany – Both sides in a pilots strike against Lufthansa have agreed to suspend the standoff – which has canceled hundreds of flights – at midnight (6 p.m. Monday ET).
The suspension is set to expire on March 8, barring the reaching of an agreement before then, both sides said in a Frankfurt labor court.
“The judge was very clear,” airline spokesman Klaus Walther said. “He recommended the union to stop the strike action and to return to the negotiation table.”
Walther predicted the two sides would reach a final agreement “pretty fast.”
Travel is still expected to be difficult for many passengers for the next day or so. The pilots union said it has to inform striking pilots of the agreement before they will come back to work. In addition, passengers whose flights were canceled Monday will have to be rebooked.
The announcement came hours after pilots at Germany-based Lufthansa, one of the world’s largest airlines, went on strike.
The walkout by more than 4,000 members of Vereinigung Cockpit, the pilots’ union, came at midnight Sunday after a last-ditch effort at negotiations over pay and job security failed, the company said.
The strike had threatened to disrupt travel on more than two dozen partner airlines, including United, US Airways and Continental.
(READ MORE: http://edition.cnn.com/)
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One Response
I do not know how many passengers who had flights cancelled, want to be rebooked since many have either missed their business meetings or appointments or have already taken other flights, to get there.