Lufthansa is expected to cancel hundreds of short and medium-haul flights tomorrow when pilots extend their 24-hour strike, started at 08:00 today, into Wednesday.
The airline has already cancelled 84 long-haul flights today but tomorrow’s strike is intended to hit Lufthansa’s and sister carrier Germanwing’s short-haul services.
And the Vereinigung Cockpit union is threatening to bring further disruption later this week and in the following weeks unless its 17-month-long dispute with management can be brought to an end.
Lufthansa has published a special timetable for flights today. It says it will manage to operate 90 intercontinental passenger flights due to volunteer pilots. It is currently working on a new timetable for tomorrow, which will be released later today.
The airline said: "Any customers whose flight is cancelled as a result of the strike will be able to rebook or to cancel their booking free of charge or penalty."
This week’s strikes follow a series of walkouts since April 2014 over pilot’s retirement benefits and the airline’s cost-cutting measures.
The union says it has offered concessions, including increasing the retirement age to 60 and considering ways to bring the airline’s operating costs down closer to those of the budget airlines.
