Lufthansa is facing fresh major operational difficulties this week as cabin crew join the pilot strike, adding further pressure on the German carrier. With the pilots’ walkout entering its second day, the airline is now also dealing with a two day cabin crew strike running in parallel with the existing industrial action.
On April 13, 2026, the Independent Flight Attendants’ Organization, UFO, announced that Lufthansa flight attendants would go on strike on April 15 and 16, 2026. The action will affect flights departing from Munich and Frankfurt, two of the airline’s most important hubs. The union says talks have stalled because, in its view, management has for months shown no willingness to properly address its demands.
The disruption is not limited to the main airline. Cabin crew at Lufthansa CityLine are also set to join the strike, affecting operations from Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Berlin and Hanover. This broadens the number of airports expected to see cancellations and delays, increasing the number of affected passengers.
The latest industrial action comes shortly after an earlier cabin crew strike on April 10, when more than 520 flights were cancelled. At the same time, pilots represented by the Vereinigung Cockpit union continued their protest on April 14, the second day of their walkout, citing a lack of progress in several collective bargaining negotiations.
The pilot strike covers a wider part of the Lufthansa Group, including Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa CityLine and Eurowings. Ahead of the start of the two day action, VC President Andreas Pinheiro said that a strike is always the last resort to bring movement to failed negotiations, adding that the union places responsibility for the current situation on the employer.
In a statement published on its website, Lufthansa apologized to passengers for the disruption caused by what it described as strike action announced at short notice by the Vereinigung Cockpit and UFO unions. The airline said it is proactively contacting affected travelers by email and is urging them to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport.
According to data cited from FlightAware, Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine together cancelled around 555 flights on April 14, while approximately 900 operations were scrapped the day before. These figures illustrate the scale of the disruption the carrier is facing during the latest wave of labor action.
Lufthansa management has previously warned that room for further increases is limited. The airline’s head of human resources, Michael Niggemann, earlier said that the low profit margin at Lufthansa Classic does not in itself leave room even for investment in new aircraft, adding that strikes will not change that reality.
Vereinigung Cockpit has also said that flights to the Middle East are exempt from the pilot strike because of the ongoing conflict in the region. That means at least part of the network has been spared further disruption for now, although the overall picture for Lufthansa passengers remains highly unfavorable this week.
