Lufthansa cancels 1,000 flights

Frankfurt

 German airline Lufthansa has announced it will cancel 1,000 short- and medium-term flights in and out of Germany today, on the second day of a two-day walkout by its pilots.

 At the same time, the carrier said yesterday it had filed a court injunction in a bid to prevent the industrial action - the 13th walkout in 18 months - as the company struggles to end a long-running dispute over early retirement provisions.

 "One thousand Lufthansa flights are cancelled, 140,000 passengers will be affected," Lufthansa said in a statement after the pilots' union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), announced that it was extending a strike that began early yesterday into a second day today.

 Out of a total 1,520 Lufthansa flights that should have flown today, only just over 500 would go ahead, the carrier said.

 Only Lufthansa services would be hit, while flights by the group's other airlines, Germanwings, Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines would operate normally.

 The carrier said it apologised to passengers for any inconvenience caused and added they would be able to rebook their flights free of charge.

 Passengers on domestic, inner-Germany flights would be able to swap their tickets for a ticket on the German national railway, Deutsche Bahn.

 The first day of the walkout yesterday had affected only long-haul flights, and but there would also be knock-on effects again on Wednesday, meaning that 52 of the scheduled 176 long-haul flights would be grounded, Lufthansa said.

 Lufthansa filed an injunction with the labour court in Frankfurt to prevent the extension, arguing it was illegal.

 At the same time, management upped the ante, announcing it would seek damages of 60 million euros ($67 million) from Cockpit for the loss of earnings a first strike had caused back in April 2014, when the wage agreement with pilots at the time was still in force.