BERLIN: Pilots at Lufthansa on Saturday began a fourth consecutive day of strikes against Germany's largest airline, with chances of an immediate resolution to the pay dispute looking slim after their union rejected a new offer.
The Cockpit union targeted Lufthansa's long-haul services on Saturday, prompting 137 flight cancellations and affecting about 30,000 passengers. That is fewer than on previous days, when union members also hit short-haul flights.
Cockpit said there would be no walkout on Sunday and that it would give at least 24 hours' notice of any strikes next week.
The pilots are seeking retroactive pay increases of 3.66% a year going back five and a half years. On Friday, Lufthansa offered to increase pay by 4.4% by mid-2018, and to make a one-time payment equal to 1.8 months' salary per pilot in lieu of past raises.
The airline also offered to hire about 1,000 new pilots in the coming five years and seek third-party mediation on other outstanding issues.
The airline cancelled 830 short- and medium-haul flights on Friday affecting 100,000 passengers. Since the strikes began on Wednesday it has had to cancel 2,863 flights, affecting 345,000 passengers.
The union has been announcing the continuation of the strike one day at a time, and Cockpit spokesman Joerg Handwerg said the union had made no decision on when the strikes may end.