Lufthansa reaches pay deal with cabin staff, union says

Cabin staff at Lufthansa on Thursday said they had reached a wage agreement with the airline for 19,000 flight attendants after months of negotiations and a strike that left thousands of passengers stranded.

The agreement with cabin union UFO includes a 16.5 per cent wage increase in three stages over 36 months, starting from January retroactively, in addition to a 3,000-euro inflation compensation payment.

"We can now be very satisfied with the result," UFO chief negotiator Harry Jaeger said in a statement.

Since the start of negotiations in November last year, UFO has demanded 15 per cent more pay over a period of 18 months, a one-time payment of 3,000 euros to adjust for inflation and higher bonuses.

Some 20,000 UFO staff at Lufthansa and subsidiary CityLine stopped work for a day last month, causing around 1,000 flights cancellations, affecting 120,000 passengers.

UFO said negotiations for workers at Lufthansa subsidiaries CityLine and Discover Airlines were ongoing but were heading for an agreement.

Last month, the Verdi union agreed pay increase for Lufthansa ground staff after hammering out details of a deal to avert further strikes ahead of the busy Easter travel season.