Air travellers in Germany were facing chaos Wednesday after pilots at the country's flagship airline, Lufthansa, launched one of the biggest strikes in the carrier's history in a dispute over wages and retirement provisions, dpa reported. Lufthansa had announced that it was cancelling 3,800 flights between Wednesday and Friday and called on the 425,000 passengers hit by the three-day industrial action to make alternative arrangements. The airline's budget carrier Germanwings said it was also cutting more than half its planned 1,332 services. Both Lufthansa and the pilots' union, the Vereinigung Cockpit, said there was no sign of fresh moves to end the strike. The pilots are demanding a more than 5-per-cent wage increase and are opposed to the airline's plans to end transition contracts, which were awarded to pilots retiring before the legal pension age of 65.
