Lufthansa’s flight attendants launched a 24-hour nationwide strike at midnight on Thursday, forcing the German carrier to cancel about two-thirds of its scheduled flights across the world.
The escalating labour battle comes as Germany’s largest airline struggles to fend off challenges from budget carriers and government-owned airlines in the Persian Gulf.
The strike was the most extensive of three work stoppages over the past week after 13 months of contract negotiations broke down over differences in pay and union demands that the airline agree not to outsource jobs or employ temporary cabin crew employees.
Limited walkouts on Tuesday at airports in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin followed the launch of the flight attendants’ strike campaign last Friday. The latest work stoppage will include major airports in Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart and effect long-haul destinations in the United States and East Asia.
The impact of the strike will not be clear for hours because the walkout went into effect at an hour when commercial flights are severely restricted due to noise abatement regulations.
In a television interview on Thursday, Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz acknowledged that the airline’s management had underestimated the union’s resolve but gave no indication the airline was ready to accept the flight attendants’ demands.