A 24-hour strike by pilots disrupted traffic Monday at two Lufthansa subsidiaries, causing the cancellation of hundreds of flights to and from German airports, according to Lufthansa. The pilots' union Cockpit is demanding unspecified pay rises at Cityline, a wholly owned subsidiary, and Eurowings, which is partly owned by Lufthansa, according to dpa. Some flights continued since Cockpit does not represent all the flight-deck crew. The two units, which fly propeller planes and small jetliners on short-distance routes in and near Germany, pay their pilots significantly less than the Lufthansa parent does. Many flights took off late and 641, or one third of the day's scheduled flights on the two airlines, had been cancelled outright up to late afternoon, a Lufthansa spokesman said, but he was unable to say how may passengers were stranded. About 1,000 flight-deck crew refused to work. The worst disruption was at Germany's two biggest airports, Frankfurt and Munich. Many provincial airports were also hit. Lufthansa offered passengers train tickets to destinations within Germany. Lufthansa said the strike came as a surprise, since it had offered pay hikes. The union said the offer had not been worth discussing. Last week, Lufthansa ground staff and cabin crew walked off the job at several airports to support pay demands. That disrupted Lufthansa's scheduled domestic and international flights.
