Lufthansa strike grounds flights

Lufthansa pilots are set to strike on Monday, April 13, and Tuesday, April 14, after a one-day cabin crew walkout already disrupted flights on Friday. (dw.com) The pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit, said the stoppage will run from 12:01 a.m. Monday through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and will cover Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Cityline and Eurowings. Lufthansa has already canceled hundreds of flights, with Frankfurt and Munich hit hardest. (dw.com) At Frankfurt, nearly 75% of roughly 350 scheduled Lufthansa departures were canceled ahead of the action, according to Deutsche Welle. Other affected airports include Leipzig/Halle, Berlin and Stuttgart. (dw.com) The new strike follows a cabin crew walkout called by the union UFO on Friday, April 10. UFO said it targeted all Lufthansa departures from Frankfurt and Munich, while CityLine departures were also affected at Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Cologne-Bonn, Düsseldorf, Berlin and Hanover. (dw.com) UFO chairman Joachim Vazquez Bürger said the union had avoided the Easter holiday period but blamed Lufthansa for the return-trip disruption that followed. Lufthansa said strikes should be a last resort and called on the union to resume talks. (dw.com) This is the latest round in a wider 2026 labor fight across Germany. Deutsche Welle reported in February that new collective bargaining agreements were due this year for around 10 million workers, with aviation, rail and chemicals among the sectors facing possible walkouts. (dw.com) Lufthansa and its unions have already clashed repeatedly this year. In a one-day joint strike by pilots and flight attendants in February, the airline said nearly 800 flights were canceled and about 100,000 passengers were affected. (dw.com) Vereinigung Cockpit said it called the new stoppage because management had shown “no discernible willingness” to settle several bargaining disputes after Easter. Lufthansa has not published a full public breakdown of the latest cancellations on its travel information page, but it has told passengers to expect disruption and use rebooking or refund options for affected flights. (dw.com) (lufthansa.com)