Lufthansa Flights Hit As Cabin Crew Strike

Lufthansa cancelled hundreds of flights on Friday after cabin crew union UFO announced a walkout on flights from Frankfurt and Düsseldorf from 14:00 CET.

On the first day of a planned week of strike action over failed pension talks, flight attendants are being called to strike at Frankfurt and Düsseldorf until 23:00 CET, affecting around 37,500 passengers.

Lufthansa said it had cancelled 290 flights planned for Friday including 15 long-haul departures. Eight long-haul flights will still take off, it said.

More strike action can be expected on Saturday at Frankfurt, the union said, but Lufthansa's other main hub in Munich will not be subject to walkouts until after Sunday, given school holidays in that region.

Lufthansa Group airlines Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Germanwings, Eurowings, Brussels Airlines, Air Dolomiti and Cityline will not be affected by the strike. That means that overall, the airlines group can carry out 90 percent of the 3,000 flights it typically operates on a Friday.

The walkout comes after Lufthansa and the union failed to reach an agreement in a long-running row over early retirement benefits and pensions.

Lufthansa is trying to negotiate with various staff groups to bring down pension costs as part of a savings drive to allow it to better compete with low-cost rivals and leaner Gulf carriers.

Should Lufthansa management not make concessions, the union will carry out a threat to stage more walkouts until November 13, it said.

"We regret this course of action, but we see no alternative," union head Nicoley Baublies said.