Berlin - German carrier Lufthansa was forced to cancel short-haul flights and delay long-haul departures on being targeted by brief warning strikes in support of a pay demand Tuesday. Lufthansa said it had cancelled 44 inner-European flights, shifting passengers to other flights, as a result of the strikes that ended by 10 am local time. Some 30 long-haul departures had been delayed, it said.
Services trade union Verdi said some 3,000 ground staff had joined the limited strike at Frankfurt, Germany's main hub.
Verdi spokesman Gerhard Straube said the airports Munich, Cologne and Stuttgart had also been affected.
Verdi is demanding a pay hike of 9.8 per cent over a new 12-month contract for 60,000 ground and cabin staff.
Lufthansa has offered successive pay rises of 3.4 and 2.1 per cent.
Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber told national public television that the company would offer a measured reaction to the demands.
"We have no need to be ashamed of our working conditions," he told ZDF.
