FRANKFURT—Pilots at Deutsche Lufthansa AG LHA.XE -1.29% ’s Germanwings airline said they would go on strike on Thursday, marking the latest in a string of walkouts that are likely to put renewed pressure on the company’s earnings this year.
The pilots union, Vereinigung Cockpit, Wednesday said it plans to strike for 12 hours from midday local time on Thursday.
A Germanwings spokeswoman said around 100 out of 500 planned flights will be canceled due to the strike. The cancellations will mainly affect domestic flights, the spokeswoman said.
The airline operates from Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg, Dortmund, Düsseldorf and Hannover.
Lufthansa issued a profit warning in June following work stoppages earlier in the year. It expects operating profit of €1 billion ($1.27 billion) this year and €2 billion next year.
The airline has since suffered a handful of pilot strikes. The last strike at Germanwings in August grounded 116 flights and affected 15,000 passengers.
Analysts expect the string of walkouts will hit Lufthansa’s earnings this year.
“We see downside risk to numbers given recent strikes [and] accordingly we downgraded numbers,” said UBS analyst Jarrod Castle, adding that the bank cut its 2014 earnings before interest and taxes forecast for Lufthansa by 7% to reflect the strike disruption.
“Unfortunately Lufthansa hasn’t taken up any of VC’s compromise proposals…[therefore] customers should expect continued strikes in the near future,” Vereinigung Cockpit said.
The dispute centers on the impact of retirement age changes on pilots’ benefits. Under current rules, Lufthansa pilots can retire at age 55 and receive 60% of their salary. The European Union recently changed pilot-licensing rules, allowing them to fly until age 65. Lufthansa has said the change made its early-retirement benefits obsolete.