48-Hour Lufthansa Pilot Strike Hits Lufthansa Cityline, Grounding 80 to 90 Percent

(GERMANY) — Lufthansa cancelled hundreds of flights as pilots walked off the job in a 48-hour Lufthansa pilot strike that ran through Friday, March 13, disrupting travel across German airports and parts of the carrier’s international network.

The walkout hit Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, and Lufthansa CityLine, with the strike window set from 00:01 on Thursday, March 12 to 23:59 on Friday, March 13. Lufthansa CityLine pilots participated only on March 12.

Lufthansa Group applied the strike to departures from Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, and every other German airport it serves, forcing travelers to recheck plans for same-day departures, tight connections, and onward flights.

The stoppage arrived as one of Germany’s busiest carriers tried to keep parts of its schedule running, leaving passengers with a mix of cancellations, last-minute changes and limited rebooking options during the two-day window.

Lufthansa expected 80 to 90 percent of all scheduled flights on both days to be cancelled. At the same time, the airline said it aimed to operate more than 50 percent of its originally planned flight program overall.

Long-haul operations held up better than short-haul, with Lufthansa running approximately 60 percent of long-haul routes. Cargo operations also continued, with over 80 percent of cargo capacity operating.

Frankfurt and Munich experienced the greatest disruption, concentrating delays and missed connections at the two hubs that normally feed short-haul European services into long-haul departures.

Some routes received exemptions from the strike, including flights to 13 Middle Eastern destinations: Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Lufthansa tied those exemptions to ongoing geopolitical instability and repatriation needs.

Vereinigung Cockpit, known as VC, called the strike and said it represents more than 5,000 pilots. The union linked the walkout to two separate disputes across different Lufthansa operations.

At Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo, pilots demanded an 8.5 percent pay rise, inflation-linked automatic adjustments, and higher employer contributions to the company pension scheme. The union also pursued inflation-linked adjustments that would automatically track changes in prices.

Lufthansa CityLine faced a separate conflict focused on pay negotiations, after the union rejected the company’s first contract offer on February 25, 2026. The CityLine participation, limited to March 12, still fed wider disruption because the regional unit supports Lufthansa’s short-haul and feeder operations.

VC President Andreas Pinheiro said Lufthansa failed to shift its position after an earlier walkout. “Lufthansa has not submitted a concrete, negotiable proposal since the union’s last strike on February 12, 2026,” Pinheiro said.

Lufthansa offered passengers several options, though availability tightened as cancellations multiplied and more travelers competed for fewer seats. The carrier also warned that replacement seats could be limited, affecting how quickly passengers could be accommodated and which routings remained possible.

Passengers with tickets issued on or before March 10 for Lufthansa-operated flights on March 12 or 13 qualified to rebook free of charge through March 23 or request a full refund. Lufthansa also offered free re-booking for international passengers, while seats remained available.

For domestic segments, Lufthansa offered re-routing on Deutsche Bahn trains, shifting some journeys from air to rail where train schedules and intermodal connections made sense. Travelers using rail alternatives still faced altered itineraries, different transfer points, and extra time padding to protect onward connections.

EU Regulation 261/2004 set out passenger protections for cancellations and long delays on EU carriers. Under the regulation, affected passengers can receive compensation of up to €600 per person, because strikes by an airline’s own staff are not considered extraordinary circumstances, alongside reimbursement and certain assistance depending on circumstances.

Passengers seeking compensation or reimbursement typically need to keep basic documentation from the disrupted trip, including booking confirmations, cancellation notices, and receipts for expenses they had to cover when care was owed during lengthy waits.

Lufthansa said it expected to largely return to its normal schedule from Saturday, March 14, 2026 onwards. Even with flights restarting, travelers can still face residual disruption as airlines reposition aircraft and crews and work through backlogs created during the strike period.