The most recent negotiations between Lufthansa and the Cockpit Association have not resulted in a compromise. Now the Kranich Group wants to set up a new subsidiary that will take over short and medium-haul transport from Frankfurt and Munich.

Naturally, the project, which the employers officially informed about in an internal circular, met with little approval from the trade unions. For example, the UFO responsible for the flight attendants said: “We are very concerned about the jobs of our cabin colleagues at Lufthansa CityLine. Such a new platform threatens it massively, since it has already been announced that production should be carried out here at much lower costs. Splitting up Lufthansa Passenger Airlines into long-haul and short-haul routes will again lead to excess staff and ultimately to the destruction of tariff-based jobs," says Chairman Daniel Kassa Mbuambi. Lufthansa's approach is known as a "blackmail strategy".

VC President Stefan Herth said, among other things: “The strategy of constantly establishing and closing new platforms has not brought the desired success for Lufthansa in the past and is short-sighted and uncreative. Instead, Lufthansa should definitely concentrate on improving its product quality and on more efficient structures instead of seeking salvation in ever new platforms. In its 2020 annual report, the goal of a desired consolidation was already to reduce the number of flight operations and thus the complexity.”

Lufthansa sees this completely differently in the present circular, because the pilots of Germanwings, which was shut down in the course of the corona pandemic, are to be given the opportunity to work at the new company. The Kranich Group wants to reduce costs in the short and medium-haul sector and apparently they have wages in their sights. If the current plans are implemented, today's Lufthansa would only serve long-haul destinations. Short- and medium-haul routes, if not already outsourced to CityLine or Air Dolomiti, should then be taken over by the new company.

The role model for the new platform is Lufthansa CItyLine, which recently received the first Airbus A321P2F and thus entered the cargo business. Under which brand the “new Lufthansa short-haul” will fly is currently still open. However, the name Lufthansa should still be included. It is to be expected that the Cockpit Association will storm against the planned spin-off.