Almost 800 flights in Germany, affecting about 100,000 passengers, were cancelled on Thursday, Lufthansa said, as pilots and cabin crew staged a one-day strike over a pensions dispute.
Airports in Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg and Düsseldorf were particularly affected, according to their websites, but most flights at Munich took off as scheduled.
Lufthansa denounced the strike and its “extremely severe and disproportionate impact” on passengers.
The company said its main Lufthansa Airlines, as well as its Eurowings, Discover Airlines and cargo operations were affected.
“Lufthansa is doing everything it can to limit the impact on passengers,” it added.
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The VC pilots’ union and the cabin crew union UFO both issued the strike call to members on Tuesday.
The pilots are demanding improved retirement benefits while UFO said its members were striking over plans to close Lufthansa’s CityLine subsidiary and management’s “refusal to negotiate a collective social plan”.
Lufthansa announced a year ago that CityLine operations and staff would be moved to a new subsidiary, saying it needs to cut costs in order to manage its debt.
Its profitability has fallen behind leading European rivals, and in September Lufthansa said it would cut 4,000 jobs, or around four percent of its workforce.
Europe’s largest aviation firm, the Lufthansa group also includes airlines such as Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.
