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| A Lufthansa aircraft lands at Berlin's Tegel (Otto Lilienthal) airport. |
German flag carrier Lufthansa says it has cancelled several thousand of its flights later this week due to pilots' strike, affecting over 425,000 passengers.
"As a result of the planned strike by the pilots' union Cockpit, around 3,800 flights will be cancelled on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday," Lufthansa said in a statement released on Monday.
The cancellations include domestic and intercontinental connections in preparation for what is expected to be one of the biggest strikes in the airline’s history.
The carrier said the three-day strike would cost it tens of millions of euros just for its Lufthansa and the company's budget airline Germanwings.
"A large amount of damage has been done just by the announcement of the strike, because passengers have already changed their bookings and cargo customers have switched to other airlines to transport their goods," the statement said.
Lufthansa was also compelled to cancel hundreds of flights on March 27, following public-sector workers’ strike at seven German airports in Cologne-Bonn, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Stuttgart, Munich and Frankfurt.
Germany's main public-sector union Verdi had asked ground staff, baggage handlers and maintenance staff at most of Germany's big airports to go on the strike during Thursday’s morning shift, which continued until 1300 GMT.
Trade unions had demanded pay rises of 3.5 percent and an extra 100 euros ($140) per month for some 2.1 million federal and municipal public-sector workers.
In a ballot in March, the pilots voted unanimously in favor of strike for higher pay and better provisions for pilots nearing retirement age. - PressTV
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