Some 1,700 flights cancelled as Lufthansa pilots strike

Lufthansa will cancel more than 1,700 flights scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday owing to a fresh strike by pilots in a long-running dispute about pay as a union representing the German airline’s pilots resumes a campaign of strikes.

The Cockpit union has called out members scheduled to fly short-haul routes from Germany on Tuesday and is adding long-haul routes to the walkout on Wednesday.

Lufthansa says it’s scrapping 816 flights on Tuesday and another 890 on Wednesday, affecting around 82,000 and 98,000 passengers respectively.

Cockpit’s latest walkout follows four consecutive days of strikes from Wednesday to Saturday last week. It is part of a pay dispute that has festered for more than two years.

Nearly 2,800 flights were cancelled in last week’s walkout, the 14th strike in a pay dispute that since early 2014 has cost the carrier hundreds of millions of dollars.

Lufthansa sought an injunction on Monday from a Munich labour court halting Tuesday’s walkout but the court refused to grant it.

The airline also failed to convince two Frankfurt courts to halt last week’s strikes.

Lufthansa said it was “examining further possible legal steps”.

Source: Aljazeera