Lufthansa cancels hundreds of flights as pilots start two-day strike

Lufthansa has cancelled almost 900 flights, affecting about 100,000, after it lost an eleventh-hour legal bid to halt a pilots strike.

Lufthansa pilots in Germany began a two-day strike on Wednesday in a bid to increase pressure on management in a long-running pay dispute.

The strike started at midnight and affects flights departing from German airports, including 51 long-haul flights. However, flights by Lufthansa's other airlines, including Germanwings, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines, SWISS and Brussels Airlines, will not be affected, Lufthansa said.

The pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit, initially called a walkout for 24 hours for Wednesday, but after two courts rejected attempts by Lufthansa to halt the strike, the union extended the strike for a further 24 hours until Friday.

The strike is the 14th to hit the airline in its row with the union.

Lufthansa, which expects the strike will cost €7-9 million a day, will give details of Thursday's cancellations later on in the day. It added that the call to extend the walkout was "completely incomprehensible".

Lufthansa has called on the pilots to enter mediation, which has been rejected by their union because it is first seeking a better offer from management as a basis for talks, calling for a 3.7% pay rise for 5,400 pilots dating back to 2012.

However, Lufthansa, which is facing increasing competition from ow-cost carriers and leaner Gulf rivals, offered a 2.5% increase over the six years until 2019.

Meanwhile, a separate dispute with cabin crew at Lufthansa's low-cost subsidiary, Eurowings, led it to cancel more than 60 flights on Tuesday.