Pilot Strike May Ground Lufthansa’s Panama Flight

Germany’s flagship carrier Lufthansa, which canceled 816 flights today, will likely cancel another 890 short- and long-haul flights on Wednesday amid a long-running labor dispute over pay increases.

Tuesday’s walkout grounded 816 short-haul flights departing from Germany and stranded 82,000 passengers, who were told by Frankfurt airport “not to travel to the airport.”

Wednesday’s strike will ground all short- and long-haul flights departing Germany, Vereinigung Cockpit, the pilots’ union, announced Sunday. Another 890 flights are scheduled to be canceled and 98,000 passengers stranded.

Lufthansa pilots have been demanding a 3.7-percent pay increase which would be backdated to 2012. The Lufthansa Group has offered a 4.4-percent increase in two installments and a onetime payment of nearly twice the month’s salary.

Other airlines of the Lufthansa Group, Eurowings, Germanwings, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Air Dolomiti and Brussels Airlines, remain unaffected by the pilots’ strike, Lufthansa said in a press release.

Lufthansa pilots earn an average of US$190,000 a year before tax, according to Fortune. A captain at the highest level of pay earns as much as US$280,000 a year or more.

Lufthansa began its nonstop service to Panama City, Panama, from Frankfurt on March 2 this year. Today’s strike did not affect its scheduled service to Panama City. Wednesday Frankfurt-Panama flight remained on the board at the time of this writing.