Lufthansa pilots and cabin crew strike in Germany leads to hundreds of flight cancellations

On Thursday, Lufthansa pilots and cabin crew members launched a 24-hour strike over a pension dispute and concerns regarding subsidiary restructuring. Organized by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) and UFO unions, the industrial action caused significant disruptions at major airports including Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, and Dusseldorf, while Munich remained largely unaffected. Reports on the scale of the impact vary, with some sources citing nearly 800 canceled flights and 100,000 affected passengers, while the German Airports Association estimated over 460 cancellations affecting 69,000 travelers. The unions are demanding higher employer pension contributions and a social plan to protect approximately 800 jobs threatened by the planned closure of the CityLine subsidiary. Lufthansa management described the strike as an unnecessary escalation and cited a need for cost reductions to manage debt, including 4,000 planned job cuts across the group. Michael Niggemann, the company's Human Resources director, stated there is no room for financial maneuver regarding the union demands. Flights are expected to resume normal operations on Friday.