Lufthansa strike to continue till Wednesday

Pilots at German airline Lufthansa said they will continue until Wednesday their strike over a long-running dispute with the management over early retirement provisions, the media reported on Tuesday.

The airline also expected cancellations to its short-haul flights on Wednesday as the union called for the extension, BBC reported.

The strike, the 13th in 18 months, will affect passenger and cargo flights out of Germany.

Lufthansa said it would still operate 90 out of 170 planned long-haul flights.

Lufthansa has published a special flight schedule to keep passengers up to date with cancellations.

The pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) is in a long-running dispute over pay, retirement benefits and cost cuts.

The union said it has offered concessions, including increasing the average retirement age to 60.

But talks between VC and management broke down again last week.

Lufthansa is trying to cut costs as it battles to maintain market share through its budget airline Eurowings against low-cost rivals such as Ryanair.

VC wants to stop Lufthansa hiring pilots for Eurowings, which has an Austrian operating licence, on non-German contracts.