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Lufthansa cabin crew call new two-day strike in Germany

EPA Lufthansa employees demonstrate during a warning strike of the ground staff of Lufthansa at the international airport in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 07 March 2024EPA

Lufthansa's cabin crew union has called a fresh two-day strike across two of Germany's busiest airports, Frankfurt and Munich.

Taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday, it is the latest in a series of strikes to affect the German airline.

The union's announcement comes days after Lufthansa announced record profits for 2023.

Lufthansa said around 100,000 travellers are likely to be affected.

The strike will cover all departures out of Frankfurt airport on Tuesday and all flights out of Munich on Wednesday, from 04:00 (03:00 GMT) to 23:00 (22:00 GMT) local time, the union said.

It will affect both Lufthansa and its short-distance, low-cost subsidiary, Cityline. It is unclear whether Lufthansa's code share partners will also be affected.

The Independent Flight Attendants Organization (UFO) is calling for a 15% pay increase and a €3,000 ($3,280; £2,550) inflation compensation payment for its 18,000 members with Lufthansa and 1,000 members at Cityline.

It said that more than 96% of UFO's members voted in favour of the strike.

On Thursday, Lufthansa announced that its profits had doubled in 2023 to €1.67bn ($1.82bn; £1.42bn) from the previous year.

Joachim Vazquez Buerger, UFO board chairman, said cabin crews should "be able to benefit from this success".

He added the union "deeply regret" coming to this decision and asked passengers to "excuse" any inconvenience caused by the strike.

The UFO's negotiator said on Saturday, however, that Lufthansa's failure to come to an agreement with staff suggested that "management wants the situation to worsen, at passengers' expense."

Around 200,000 passengers were affected by delays and cancellations after Lufthansa ground staff in Germany went on strike on Thursday and Friday.

The Ver.di union, which led that strike, said its 25,000 ground staff members want a 12.5% pay rise or at least €500 more per month, and an inflation compensation bonus.

Lufthansa said it offered to increase pay by at least 10% - but Ver.di said the offer was not enough, and that ground staff are barely earning the minimum wage despite the airline boasting a high profit.