Lufthansa strike talks collapse

Lufthansa flights face further disruption

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Pay talks between the German airline Lufthansa and its pilots union have broken down, a Lufthansa spokeswoman announced on Tuesday.

"The negotiations have failed," she said. "We are now calling on an arbitrator" to settle the dispute.

The pilots union also said the talks had collapsed.

"Despite intensive efforts, until the early morning hours, the seventh round of negotiations did not lead to a breakthrough. Every move by VC ( the union negotiating team) towards a compromise was answered by Lufthansa management with a worsening of their offer.

"The negotiating team of VC has therefore declared the efforts ended in failure."

Germany has seen three strikes by Lufthansa pilots in the last three weeks.

The pilots union "cockpit" or "command centre" had announced it would stage a 24-hour strike every Thursday until its demands were met. Earlier this week it also threatened additional unannounced walk-outs.

Last week Lufthansa had raised its previous offer of 10.6 percent salary increase by 3 percent. It also offered the pilots profit-sharing and an annual average German salary increase.

The pilots on the other hand demanded 24 percent more salary plus profit-sharing last week.