Lufthansa profit dives

May 17, 2001
Web posted at: 1211 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Deutsche Lufthansa, Europe's No. 2 airline, warned on Thursday it could not predict full-year results as pilots continue strike action. 

The German airline made the announcement as it reported a first-quarter loss of 94 million compared with a net profit of 5 million in the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 15 percent to 3.63 billion.

The company, hit by its second 24-hour pilots' strike, blamed soaring fuel prices, which rose 43.1 percent or 121 million to 402 million, and Internet investments for the loss.

"The as yet unresolved pay dispute with the union representing the interests of our cockpit crews means that it is very hard at the moment to make a dependable result forecast," the company said.

"We are sticking to our ambitious target of posting an operating result

for 2001 on a par with last year," the company added.

The pilots are seeking an average wage increase of as much as 35 percent on the company's top pilots wage of 350,000 deutsche marks ($158,000), Lufthansa told CNN.

The starting salary for a pilot is 100,000 marks and the captain of the airline's flagship Boeing 747 can expect to earn over 350,000 marks. 

The pilots are demanding compensation for low pay increases during the early 1990s when the airline's finances were stretched

The airline has offered a 13.6 percent salary increase over four years. 

The Vereinigung Cockpit union has pledged to stage 24-hour walkouts every Thursday until an agreement is reached and said it may also escalate strike action.

Striking pilots last Thursday grounded more than 900 of 1,100 scheduled flights. About 500 flights have been cancelled out of the 1,100 flights timetabled for Thursday, a Lufthansa spokesperson said.

Lufthansa posts higher first
Aug. 23, 2000

Deutsche Lufthansa

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