German airline Lufthansa cancels hundreds of flights as pilots begin 4-day strike

Lufthansa nixes 100s of flights as pilots strike

BERLIN — German airline Lufthansa canceled about 800 flights Monday, almost half its daily total, after more than 4,000 of its pilots began a four-day walkout.

The airline, Europe’s biggest by sales, said that despite the strike organized by the Cockpit pilots union, it was maintaining many domestic flights and short-haul routes across Europe though many of its long-haul flights to the U.S., including New York and Denver, were canceled.

Other flights to the U.S., including Newark, New Jersey, Dallas and Chicago were scheduled Monday, as were flights to destinations in Africa, South America and Asia.

“Usually we have 1,800 flights a day,” Deutsche Lufthansa AG said early Monday.

“For today, we foresee about 1,000 flights planned, but there may be more flights that could be canceled during the day,” the airline warned. It offers some 160 long-haul flights to destinations worldwide.

Pilots for Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa’s its low-budget subsidiary, Germanwings, are also taking part in the strike.

Germanwings, based at Cologne-Bonn Airport, said it was operating several flights over the four-day period to destinations including Britain, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy and Croation, among others.

Lufthansa, based in Cologne, owns or holds significant stakes in airlines including Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines, JetBlue of the U.S. and Britain’s BMI. Those are not affected.

The pilots are seeking increased job security and want German labor conditions to apply to Lufthansa pilots hired abroad, in an effort to prevent their jobs from migrating to neighboring countries with cheaper conditions.

Lufthansa said that was not being considered.

“Not one job has been moved. No Lufthansa pilot’s job has been scrapped and no job cuts are planned at the moment,” said Christoph Franz, Lufthansa’s deputy chairman.

The airline said it was trying to rebook travelers on partner airlines or trains. Travelers unable to be rescheduled are being reimbursed for their tickets, it said.

The airline reached out to travelers online, too, posting a strike schedule on its Web site and offering updates on whether flights were canceled or not on its Twitter feed.

The airline, Germany’s largest, estimated the strike could cost it some €25 million ($34 million) per day.

On the Net:

www.lufthansa.com

www.twitter.com/lufthansa_de