FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A solution to the wage dispute between Lufthansa cabin crew is drawing closer. The company and the trade union Ufo are continuing the round of negotiations that began the day before this Friday, according to information from negotiating circles. No details of the content were given. Lufthansa had not even wanted to confirm the start of negotiations on Thursday.

Ufo is demanding 15 percent more money for the approximately 18,000 flight attendants at Lufthansa as well as for their 1,000 colleagues at the regional subsidiary Cityline for a contract term of 18 months. The union also wants an inflation adjustment bonus of 3,000 euros and higher bonuses. However, negotiations are currently only taking place for employees at the main airline.

Ufo last brought Lufthansa's flight operations to a standstill with a strike on March 12. The cabin crew union refrained from another strike over Easter.

On Thursday, Ufo also reported progress at the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines, which had previously been without a collective bargaining agreement. The union announced on its website that it had succeeded in making progress on substantive issues such as vacation, deployment planning, significant increases in pay scales and additional pay components. There are now two more meetings to be held, which will focus on the social partnership between the company and the union. The dispute over Discover had also put a strain on negotiations at the Lufthansa parent company.

This Friday will also see the start of arbitration for around 25,000 employees of private aviation security companies who check passengers, baggage, freight and staff at airports outside Bavaria on behalf of the Federal Police. Here, too, there have already been several waves of warning strikes at various airports./ceb/DP/stw