Lufthansa flights resume today after FIVE days of tag-team strikes by TWO unions wipe out 90pc of schedule

Lufthansa has resumed full flight operations following the conclusion of a disruptive five day period of industrial action by pilots and cabin crew that brought much of the airlines schedule to a standstill earlier this week.

As of Saturday 18 April 2026 the carrier confirmed that normal services had restarted across its network with only minor residual delays at major hubs such as Frankfurt and Munich where passenger re accommodation continued into the weekend. The airline extended its goodwill rebooking policy for all tickets issued up to Friday allowing affected travellers to change flights free of charge or obtain full refunds without penalty and it urged customers to check the status of their journeys via the website or mobile application.

Negotiations between Lufthansa management and the two unions remain deadlocked with no immediate date set for further talks despite calls for arbitration from both sides. The disputes centre on pay pensions and working conditions with the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots union and the UFO cabin crew union having staged coordinated walkouts that created the most extensive disruption the carrier has faced this year.

The strikes unfolded over five consecutive weekdays beginning on Monday 13 April when pilots from the Vereinigung Cockpit union walked out leading to the cancellation of 700 flights. On Tuesday 14 April the pilot action continued with a further 711 flights grounded bringing the two day pilot total to 1,411 cancellations and stranding over 1,100 passengers mainly at Frankfurt and Munich airports.

Cabin crew represented by the UFO union then took over on Wednesday 15 April with their strike resulting in 800 flights cancelled across the network as Lufthansa operated only ten to twenty per cent of its normal schedule. Thursday 16 April proved the most chaotic day of the week when overlapping strikes by both pilots and cabin crew led to more than 900 flights being affected. The action concluded on Friday 17 April with pilots striking once more and causing 850 cancellations although the airline managed to maintain a skeleton service using partner carriers and non union crew where possible. In total the five days of strikes resulted in several thousand flights being wiped from the timetable with Lufthansa estimating that between 80pc-90pc of short and medium haul services were grounded on the peak days while long haul routes fared slightly better at around 50pc capacity.

Passengers affected by the cancellations have been reminded of their rights under European Union regulations which may entitle them to compensation of up to €600 per person depending on the length of the flight and the duration of the delay or cancellation provided the disruption was not caused by extraordinary circumstances.

Lufthansa has stressed that it remains committed to resolving the labour disputes through dialogue and has criticised the timing of the strikes as disproportionate given the short notice provided to travellers during a busy spring travel period. With operations now returning to normal the focus shifts to clearing the backlog of rebooked passengers and restoring confidence in the airlines reliability amid ongoing uncertainty about future industrial action.

Lufthansa shared “We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the disproportionate and very short-notice strike announcement.”