Lufthansa said on Tuesday it had agreed a pay rise for 19,000 flight attendants in Germany to offset rising inflation.

Germany’s flagship airline said it has struck a one-year deal with flight attendants’ union UFO to increase monthly base salaries by 250 euros ($248) from January 2023 and a further 2.5 percent from July.

As a result, starting salaries for flight crew will increase by 17 percent, Lufthansa said, while those in the top pay bracket will experience a nine percent increase.

“In this way, we are fulfilling our social responsibility and at the same time ensuring our attractiveness as an employer,” said Michael Niggemann, HR Director at Lufthansa.

Low- and mid-level cabin crew “will particularly benefit” from the new agreement, he added.

Lufthansa already agreed earlier this year to raise the salaries of pilots and ground crew in Germany after they staged strikes to push through demands for better pay.

High inflation, which hit a record 10.4 percent in Germany in October, has fueled calls for wage increases in a range of sectors in Europe’s largest economy.

At the same time, the airline industry is struggling with a labor shortage after many job cuts during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lufthansa, which was saved from bankruptcy by a government bailout during the pandemic, last week reported a robust third-quarter net profit of 809 million euros.

CEO Carsten Spohr said that Lufthansa has “put the pandemic behind it” and expects strong travel demand in the coming months.