Lufthansa pilots back to work, for now…

First the good news, there is a sigh of relief as Lufthansa pilots agreed to return to work, temporarily suspending a protest that had grounded hundreds of flights. The bad news follows, French air traffic controllers and British Airways now also plan to join the revolt against harsh pay cuts that threatens to throw European air travel into bedlam.

In a court hearing, Vereinigung Cockpit - the pilots' union agreed to suspend the strike until March 8.

Lufthansa - European largest airlines in term of passenger carried and the founding member of Star Alliance has said that it would cut costs 1 billion euros in costs by 2011 to become more efficient and at the same time will expand. Some 4,000 Lufthansa pilots took part in a strike on Monday on concerns the airlines might try to cut staff costs by shifting jobs to foreign units.

Reeling under losses during aviation industry's worst ever year and losing market share to low-cost carriers, airlines like British Airways want three-quarters of its crew to accept a pay freeze this year.