Lufthansa flights start Strike

The airline also expected cancellations to its short-haul flights on Wednesday as the union called for an extension.

The strike, the 13th in 18 months, will affect passenger and cargo flights out of Germany.

Lufthansa said it would still operate 90 out of 170 planned long-haul flights.

 

Lufthansa has published a special flight schedule to keep passengers up to date with cancellations.

The pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) is in a long-running dispute over pay, retirement benefits and cost cuts.

The union says it has offered concessions, including

increasing the average retirement age to 60.

But talks between VC and management broke down again last week. 

Lufthansa is trying to cut costs as it battles to maintain market share through its budget airline Eurowings against low-cost rivals such as Ryanair.

VC wants to stop Lufthansa hiring pilots for Eurowings, which has an Austrian operating licence, on non-German contracts.