Lufthansa has agreed a pay deal with ground staff to end a strike that began on Monday morning and cabin crew are expected to accept a similar deal.
The German carrier had been forced to cancel 3%-4% of services since Tuesday, although flights from the UK were unaffected. The cancellations included some long-haul flights from Frankfurt and Munich to New York, Chicago, Dallas, Calgary, Dubai and Kolkota.
The strikers, members of the public-sector union Verdi, had demanded a 9.8% pay rise. Lufthansa had offered 6.7% over 21 months. The deal appears to bridge the two positions.
Representatives of the 34,000 ground staff have accepted a 5.1% rise this year, an additional 2.3% next July and a one-off payment worth 2.4% – amounting to a little above 9.8%. But the salary settlement is lower and spread over 21 months.
The deal for cabin crew has still to be approved by the flight attendants’ union UFO.
A Lufthansa spokesman described the settlement as “not painless for either side”. He said: “It is imperative that the increased costs be compensated by higher productivity.”