Flight disruption as crew kick off Lufthansa strike

Tens of thousands of Lufthansa passengers faced disruptions Thursday as cabin crew in Germany kicked off a 48-hour walkout in the biggest escalation yet of a bitter row over pay and conditions.

The strike called by Germany’s UFO flight attendants’ union started at late on Wednesday and was to last until late on Friday.

Lufthansa said it had scrapped 700 flights on Thursday and about 600 on Friday, warning “about 180,000 passengers will be affected”.

The UFO union said the stoppage would affect all Lufthansa departures from German airports.

Last-minute efforts to halt the strike failed after a court in Frankfurt on Wednesday confirmed the walkout was legal.

Lufthansa said it regretted the inconvenience to passengers and that the group’s other airlines were not affected.

The carrier said it would run an alternative flight schedule where possible, and that passengers could rebook their journeys for free or swap flights for train tickets.

UFO argued the stoppage was necessary because negotiations with Lufthansa bosses were deadlocked. UFO vicepresident Daniel Flohr warned of further strikes to come.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr on Thursday, however, held out an olive branch, saying he was open to UFO’s offer of arbitration talks “in the interest of our customers and employees”.

The walkout is UFO’s biggest call to action since a 2015 strike hit Lufthansa with mass cancellations.

It is also seen as a test of strength for the union, weakened by months of infighting.

Lufhansa finance chief Ulrik Svensson declined to put a price tag on the strike, but said such stoppages cost “between €10m and €20m” (R163m to R326m) a day.

The union staged a daylong warning strike in October at four Lufthansa subsidiary airlines, causing several dozen flights to be axed.

But Lufthansa was spared the upheaval after management offered a surprise 2% pay rise to avert the strike.

However, Flohr said no progress had been made in talks since then.

As well as higher pay for cabin crew, UFO is demanding more benefits.