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"Due
to the high complexity and the scale, an agreement on all the
issues could still not be reached, despite extended talks," the
pilots' union said in a statement on Saturday, adding
negotiations would resume at the beginning of next week.
The carrier is trying to cut costs at its main brand in Germany
to help it to compete with low cost rivals in Europe and
fast-growing long-haul carriers such as Emirates and Turkish
Airlines.
The dispute with the pilots stretches back over four years, with
the two sides needing to agree pay deals for contract periods
from May 2012, plus reach agreement over changes to a
decades-old scheme that allows pilots to retire early from the
age of 55 and keep a proportion of their pay.
The pilots' union also said that "significant progress" had been
made during a non-stop 24-hour round of talks that ended early
Saturday, but gave no further details.
Lufthansa and the union had previously aimed to reach agreement
before the end of July, before talks were extended to Friday.
The group in July agreed a deal with its main cabin crew union
on pay and conditions, which is now being voted on by union
members.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has said that even if the carrier
failed to bring talks with the pilots' union to a successful
conclusion, Lufthansa would still reduce costs because it would
transfer jobs to collective labor contracts at its Eurowings
budget subsidiary.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Victoria Bryan. Editing by
Jane Merriman)
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