Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German airline Lufthansa has reached a preliminary agreement on a labor deal with its pilots that would cut pension liabilities and bar strikes through 2022.
Lufthansa's drawn-out talks with the Vereinigung Cockpit union have led to several costly stoppages that disrupted hundreds of flights.
Lufthansa's labor relations head, Bettina Volkens, on Wednesday called the deal a "breakthrough" that would end the dispute.
The union said the deal would protect pilot jobs at Lufthansa and low-cost division Germanwings, while guaranteeing lower unit costs to the company. The company said it would drop plans to staff 40 planes outside the labor agreement and committed to operate a certain number of planes to offer pilots the opportunity to train for captain's positions.
The two sides said details remain to be worked out.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
