A strike by Lufthansa cabin crew disrupted hundreds of flights on Friday, stranding thousands of passengers who faced further delays over a busy holiday travel weekend from a rolling series of stoppages about pay and cost cuts. Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport AG said it had asked for no flights to depart to Frankfurt from European destinations, citing a lack of parking positions at Germany's busiest airport due to planes grounded by the strike.
Intercontinental flights were not affected, Fraport said. Germany's biggest airline said it cancelled most of the 360 scheduled arrivals and departures at its Frankfurt hub during Friday's eight-hour strike, which followed the breakdown of 13 months of talks with trade union UFO.
UFO, which represents around two-thirds of Lufthansa's 19,000 flight attendants, did not rule out further stoppages over the weekend and said it could call for industrial action at other airports "today or tomorrow". The stoppages were initially focused on flights to and from Frankfurt, but might affect the airline's wider European and global network and could cost it millions of euros a day in lost revenue. Lufthansa said it would try to place passengers on trains and alternative flights.