100,000 travellers hit by Lufthansa flight attendants’ strike

Lufthansa says some 100,000 airline passengers won’t be able to travel Wednesday because of an ongoing strike by flight attendants. The German carrier said it has cancelled 931 flights even as Lufthansa and the UFO flight attendants union sought mediation in their dispute. The union wants to secure transition payments for its 19,000 members if they retire early, among other demands as part of its contract dispute with Lufthansa, which is trying to cut costs. The company today lost a legal challenge to the validity of the strike action.

Lufthansa will decide today on the next steps.

An airline statement

The airline said more than 2,000 flights across the group would operate as planned, including some code-sharing flights operated by its CityLine and Air Dolomiti brands and flights of subsidiaries such as Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Germanwings. The union rejected the airline’s latest offer Monday, saying it constituted only a “minimal” improvement. UFO representatives noted Tuesday that the airline recently increased its pre-tax earnings forecast for the year.

Business Lufthansa