Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa scrapped about 70 of its 2,000 daily flights on Tuesday as thousands of ground and cabin staff struck over pay for a second day. The routes affected were short-haul services with high frequencies, enabling it to switch passengers to other flights, a Lufthansa spokesman said. No long-haul services had been hit so far, he added. The open-ended strike by about 5,000 members of the Verdi services union began on Monday and affected Germany's largest airports, including Frankfurt. Verdi cabin crew respresentative Mirco Vorwerk told Reuters Television he expected the impact of the strike to grow in coming days. Verdi, which represents some 50,000 ground and cabin staff at Lufthansa, wants an immediate 9.8 percent pay rise. Lufthansa is offering 6.7 percent over 21 months and a one-off payment. Ninety-one percent of union members backed the strike in a ballot. Lufthansa repeated calls for the union to resume talks to end the strike.
