Pilot Strike: Just A Handful Of Lufthansa Flights Are Currently Airborne

Lufthansa

IATA/ICAO Code:

LH/DLH

Airline Type:

Full Service Carrier

Hub(s):

Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport

Year Founded:

1953

Alliance:

Star Alliance

Airline Group:

Lufthansa Group

CEO:

Carsten Spohr

Country:

Germany

The operations of German flag carrier Lufthansa are being heavily impacted by strike action by its pilots today. The move has led to hundreds of flight cancelations this morning, with more disruption likely to follow as the day progresses. While some flights are operating, very few are airborne compared to an average Friday.

Not much to see

Being one of the largest airlines in Europe, and indeed the world as a whole, Lufthansa typically has a strong presence in the world's skies. You would particularly expect this to be the case today, given that it is a Friday at the end of the school holidays. However, the 24-hour pilot strike has hit the airline hard.

This is perhaps best exemplified by looking at the number of active Lufthansa flights presently trackable on FlightRadar24.com. Indeed, this had fallen to just 31 services at the time of writing. Several are long-haul flights, with one being a Frankfurt-Singapore service that departed the German air hub before the strike began.

Meanwhile, closer to home, Lufthansa does appear to be operating something of a skeleton service on certain European and domestic routes to and from its Frankfurt and Munich bases. Interestingly, a good chunk of these are being flown by the carrier's regional CityLine subsidiary, such as LH1054 from Frankfurt to Nantes.

This late-morning look at Lufthansa's active flights demonstrates the extent of the disruption. Image: FlightRadar24.com

Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests.

Widespread disruption

While the 30 or so active flights will be a welcome relief to those able to travel on them, a far greater number of Lufthansa services have been shelved today due to the strike. Indeed, according to data made available by FlightAware, 605 Lufthansa flights today had already been canceled at the time of writing.

Interestingly, this figure wasn't the highest, having just been exceeded by China Eastern Airlines' 617 cancelations. However, on a proportional level, the German flag carrier has indeed seen the greatest amount of disruption, with the 605 aforementioned cancelations accounting for a whopping 67% of its daily total.

While the strike is only occurring today, the disruption stretches back further, with a reported 275 Lufthansa flights having been canceled, perhaps in preparation for the strike. As for tomorrow, four Lufthansa flights were listed as having been canceled at the time of writing, but knock-on disruption may see this rise.

Airplanes travel greater distances and are affected by the curvature of the earth. Photo: Boeing

The airline industry is always full of new developments! What aviation news will you check out next?

Also top of the list in terms of airport-based disruption

As well as listing delays and cancelations per airline, FlightAware also presents this data relative to the origin and destination airports of the flights in question. Given the extent of the disruption today, it is unsurprising to see that the carrier's hubs at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and Munich Airport (MUC) come out on top.

In terms of cancelations by origin airport, Frankfurt had 205 at the time of writing, with Munich's total at 125. These accounted for 35% and 27% of these airports' respective daily departures. Meanwhile, in terms of destination airports, things are a little better, with Frankfurt on 190 (33%) and Munich on 104 (23%).

What do you make of Lufthansa's extensive disruption today? Have your travel plans been affected by the strike? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.