900 Flights Cancelled Over Pilot Strike
posted on Nov 23, 2016 9:08AM
One of the most popular airlines, Lufthansa, said it would cancel nearly 900 flights on Wednesday because of a strike by pilots. The pilot union said in a statement that all of Lufthansa's short and long-haul flights out of Germany will be affected by the continued industrial action. Out of its roughly 3,000 scheduled flights, 876 would be cancelled due to the strike, "affecting some 100,000 passengers", Lufthansa said in a statement. It is the union's 14th strike since April 2014. Cockpit had initially called for a 24-hour stoppage but said late yesterday that the strike would continue into Thursday for both long- and short-haul flights leaving Germany. The union is calling for an average increase of 3.7 percent in pay for 5,400 pilots in Germany over a five-year period dating back to 2012. However, Lufthansa, which is trying to cut costs to cope with increased competition from low-cost carriers and leaner Gulf rivals, has offered a 2.5 percent increase over the six years until 2019.