• over two thirds of all Lufthansa Group flights are taking place

• Lufthansa’s station staff is caring for guests on the ground in the terminals

• roughly 4,000 hotel rooms booked in the Rhine-Main area and in Munich

• 70,000 SMS and e-mails sent to registered customers

Tonight, on 23 November, the strike announced by pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit began. The special flight schedule is being carried out as planned. More than two thirds of all Lufthansa Group flights are taking place according to schedule today.

The special flight schedule for tomorrow has been enabled just now. Yesterday, VC announced an extension of the strike by an additional 24 hours. 2,088 flights out of a total of roughly 3,000 flights of the Lufthansa Group will be operating as planned. Tomorrow, a total of 912 flights, including 82 intercontinental flights, will be cancelled due to the extended strike, affecting another 115,000 passengers. Overall, more than 215,000 passengers will be affected by about 1,800 flight cancellations on the two strike days.

Lufthansa has called on VC once more to look for a joint solution to the labour dispute instead of rushing into an additional escalation.

“VC’s demand for an increase in compensation by over 20 percent is far greater than increases other groups of employees have received. It is not understandable why the union is demanding the biggest raise for the group of employees that is already paid the most,” says Bettina Volkens, Chief Officer Corporate Human Resources and Legal Affairs of Lufthansa Group.

The Group airlines Eurowings, Germanwings, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Air Dolomiti and Brussels Airlines are not affected by the strike. The pilots of Lufthansa Cargo have also not been called on to strike. Flights to and from Germany that are operated by Group airlines are proceeding as scheduled. Austrian Airlines and SWISS have also increased their capacity on flights to Germany by using larger aircraft for the time being.

For now, the station staff are focussing on the best possible care for passengers. In the Rhine-Main and Munich areas, almost 4,000 hotel rooms have been booked for today, as a precaution. For passengers who cannot leave the airport due to visa restrictions, Lufthansa has set up around 400 folding cots in cooperation with Fraport. Employees are providing the passengers in the terminals who have been affected by the strike with beverages, snacks and telecommunication options. At the same time, information points have been set up and the capacity at the ticket counters has been increased.

Customers whose flights have been cancelled due to the strike have the one-time option to transfer or cancel their booking at no cost. In addition to this, all passengers that are travelling with the group airlines Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, SWISS and Brussels Airlines have the one-time option of transferring their booking for free, regardless of whether their flight has been cancelled or not. On LH.com, passengers can find additional information under ‘Current Travel Information’. For flights within Germany, there is also the option to exchange the flight ticket for a Deutsche Bahn voucher.

Lufthansa asks all its customers to take the precaution of checking the status of their flight on LH.com before travelling to the airport. Customers in Germany can also call our free hotline at 0800 850 60 70 for information (free from German landlines). Lufthansa is notifying all passengers that have provided contact information in their customer profiles of any cancellations by e-mail or SMS. It was already possible to reach 70,000 passengers affected today with information on the effects of the strike by SMS and e-mail.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Media Relations, 23.11.2016 Press Release