Lufthansa pilots are extending today’s strike affecting long-haul flights onto the airline’s short-haul network tomorrow (Wednesday).
Tomorrow’s 24-hour strike will target short-haul Lufthansa and Germanwings flights.
The German carrier pledged to operate 90 out of about 170 planned long-haul flights for Tuesday and all seven cargo flights thanks to pilots volunteering to work.
It expects several hundred flights to be cancelled on Wednesday, when it has 1,350 short-haul flights scheduled.
Passengers affected by the strike will be able to rebook or to cancel their booking free of charge or penalty.
“Lufthansa is doing its utmost to minimise the impact of this strike action on its customers,” the airline said.
The airline has published a special timetable to keep passengers informed of cancellations.
Today’s strike is the 13th in 18 months in a dispute over pay, benefits and cost cuts.
Announcing the Wednesday strike, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union spokesman, Markus Wahl, said Lufthansa management had not shown any willingness to reach an agreement.
As a precondition for talks, VC wants Lufthansa to halt the process of employing staff on non-German contracts for the expansion of its budget Eurowings division, which has an Austrian operating licence.