FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The airline Discover is preparing a replacement flight schedule for this Friday due to the planned strike by its flight personnel. Around 30 flights are planned during the strike period, according to a spokeswoman for the Lufthansa subsidiary in Frankfurt. The aim is to get as many passengers as possible to their destinations. 20 flights were originally scheduled to depart from Frankfurt, while Discover was to operate a further ten on behalf of its parent company in Munich.

On Wednesday evening, the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union called on its members to go on a full-day strike on Friday. This was later joined by the cabin crew union Ufo, which also called a 24-hour warning strike. At issue are the first collective wage agreements at the vacation airline, which was only founded two and a half years ago and currently has 24 aircraft. The collaboration between the crews is likely to make it even more difficult for the company to find sufficient staff for the flights.

The company sharply criticized the strike calls on Thursday and described them as an unnecessary escalation. "While the VC has recently categorically rejected every offer from Discover Airlines to continue talks, Ufo is calling for a warning strike in a company with which it has not previously held a single discussion," a spokeswoman explained. Ufo regrets the impact that this strike will have on travelers' travel plans.

The Lufthansa Group's vacation airline was initially launched in the coronavirus summer of 2021 under the name "Eurowings Discover" and later renamed "Discover Airlines". Discover is intended to be more cost-effective than the Lufthansa core brand and compete with leisure airlines such as Condor in the lucrative leisure market./ceb/DP/stk