Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo are at risk of strike action after pilots delivered a strong vote in favour of supporting the collective bargaining committee, following seven unsuccessful rounds of negotiations over planned changes to company pension schemes.

The ballot, conducted by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), the German Airline Pilots’ Association representing around 9,000 pilots, saw a high voter turnout, with 90 per cent of Lufthansa pilots and 95 per cent of Lufthansa Cargo pilots participating.

Of those, 88 per cent of Lufthansa pilots and 96 per cent of Lufthansa Cargo pilots voted in favour of supporting the Group Collective Bargaining Committee (GTK), exceeding the required majority.

The result gives GTK and VC a “strong” mandate to pursue the next steps in the dispute, including all necessary measures and potential industrial action.

VC president, Andreas Pinheiro, said that the result of the ballot is a “strong signal” of the unity of its members and that the pilots are “clearly behind” the demands and their collective bargaining committee. Pinheiro also thanked everyone who cast their vote.

GTK spokesperson, Arne Karstens, said: “Retirement provision is a central foundation of life planning for pilots – at least as important as the statutory pension.”

He argued that following the ballot outcome, the GTK now expects Lufthansa to “take the signals” from the workforce seriously and “finally” present a negotiable offer for company pension schemes.

Commenting in response to the ballot, Lufthansa Group chief legal officer and head of human resources, Michael Niggemann, said the group took note of this result.

“The union would like to resume negotiations. We welcome this, as viable solutions can only be found at the negotiating table,” Niggemann said.

However, he noted that the ballot has not increased the scope for manoeuvre and therefore said that the focus “must remain on finding answers that are compatible with the economic performance of Lufthansa Classic”.

“Our goal for the further negotiations remains to secure the long-term viability of the core Lufthansa Classic brand,” he added.

The ballot was launched on 12 September in response to the lack of progress on retirement benefits after failed negotiations with Lufthansa, due to the “massive differences” with the company pension scheme.

This follows VC’s call for Lufthansa Group to “immediately” begin talks on the future structure of pension and transitional pension schemes for pilots after two collective pension agreements had been up for renegotiation since May 2025.

VC established GTK in 2023 to combine the interests of all pilots of the Lufthansa Group across flight operations, with the aim of better protecting the conditions for pilots and preventing the workforce from antagonism. The group is made up of representatives of the individual flight operations collective bargaining committees (FTK).

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