Lufthansa cancels hundreds of flights amid pilot and cabin crew strike

On Thursday, February 12, passengers faced a major setback as hundreds of Lufthansa flights were cancelled. The prime reason was a strike by flight attendants at Germany’s largest airline, which has struggled for years to curb costs at its core brand.

The company has not officially announced the total number of affected customers but the strike action will lead to extensive cancellations. According to an analysis by the German airport association (ADV), more than 460 flights will be cancelled, affecting nearly 70,000 passengers.

The walkout was organized by pilots’ union VC and the flight attendants’ union, UFO. It comes as the Berlinale film festival reaches its peak in the German capital this Thursday. Simultaneously, politicians and other military officials are assembling for the Munich Security Conference ahead of official commencement on Friday.

Conflicts have arisen among pilots with Lufthansa’s mainline airline and its cargo decisions over pensions. According to Reuters, the union’s members voted in favor of strike action in a ballot last year as pressures mounted on the company to grant more generous retirement benefits.

Lufthansa has declared its core line as “problem child”, stating that there is no financial flexibility to meet the union’s demands. Conversely, the UFO union of flight attendants called out its members at Lufthansa’s CityLine to walk out in protest of the closure of its flight operations and “the employer’s continued refusal to work on a collective bargaining plan.