Hundreds of Lufthansa flights cancelled due to pilot strike

A Lufthansa pilot strike on Thursday and Friday will cause severe travel disruptions at German airports. Here’s what passengers need to know:

Lufthansa strike to disrupt flights

Hundreds of Lufthansa flights scheduled for Thursday and Friday will be disrupted or cancelled as 5.000 pilots take part in a strike.

Lufthansa flights departing from German airports between 12.01am local time on March 12, 2026, and 11:59pm local time on March 13, 2026, will be disrupted or cancelled.

Vereinigung Cockpit, the trade union representing Lufthansa pilots, said that “in light of the current situation”, exceptions have been made for key flights to the Middle East. Where possible, flights to Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will still run.

Lufthansa said it was working intensively to minimise the impact of the strike and that, where possible, flights would be run by other airlines in the Lufthansa Group or partner airlines, such as SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover and ITA Airways.

Passengers scheduled to travel on March 12 or 13 are advised to regularly check the status of their flight before travelling. Passengers with cancelled flights will have the choice between automatic rebooking and a refund.

Why are Lufthansa pilots striking?

Vereinigung Cockpit and Lufthansa are currently in a dispute over pilots’ pension plans. Until 2017, Lufthansa pilots received a traditional company pension with guaranteed payments. 

Lufthansa replaced this model with a “capital market-financed model that falls significantly short of the previous pension level,” according to a press release from the union.

Vereinigung Cockpit is demanding that Lufthansa make “substantial improvements to the company pension scheme”, while Lufthansa representative Michael Niggemann maintains the company "simply has no financial leeway".

Lufthansa fell into the red in 2024, but last week, the German airline reported a 1,96 billion profit in 2025, around 20 percent higher than the previous year and the highest revenue in the company's history.