Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, and services union Verdi said Friday they had agreed a pay deal to end a five-day strike by ground and cabin staff, according to DPA. The strike, which has resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights since it began early Monday, is to end with the early shift on Saturday. Lufthansa, which said earlier it was cutting 128 flights from its regular schedule Friday, said the cancellations would continue into the weekend. The deal, which covers 21 months, provides for a phased pay rise of 7.4 per cent for 50,000 workers. It also includes one-off payments. Lufthansa Stefan Lauer said the deal would be "painful" for the company, costing around 100 million euros (156 million dollars) in its second year. Lufthansa has had to take aircraft out of service over recent days as they had not undergone maintenance checks.
