Lufthansa said it expected long-haul flights to Calcutta, Calgary, Chicago and New York to be cancelled, the news agency AFP reported. In addition, 70 shorter flights would not take off Wednesday because the required aircraft had not received necessary maintenance, the company said. Nine of the airline's fleet of 520 aircraft are out of action.
The services union Verdi said about 5,000 workers had joined the strike Monday and Tuesday, causing the cancellation on Tuesday of 70 domestic and European flights.
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Bild reported Wednesday that the airline was taking measures to prevent further disruptions during the peak summer travel season.
Those included having some of its aircraft maintained abroad, changing schedules to take aircraft out of the country by rotation.
Verdi has said its aim is to target Lufthansa financially by forcing it to resort to expensive measures like outsourcing maintenance and catering. Verdi has estimated the strike would cost Lufthansa 5 million euros ($7.9 million) a day.
Lufthansa posts profit Lufthansa published preliminary half-year results Tuesday, showing a 45 percent rise in operating profits to 705 million euros on a rise in turnover of 20 percent to 12.1 billion euros.
Verdi is demanding 9.8 percent more pay for 50,000 Lufthansa workers. Pilots are not involved in the current strike. The airline is offering 6.7 percent more pay over a 21-month contract plus a one-time payment.
(Deutsche Welle)
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