Pilots to go on strike at Lufthansa on Wednesday

Pilots at German airline Lufthansa will go on strike on Wednesday in a long-running pay dispute, their labor union said Monday, raising the prospects of hundreds of flight cancellations. The strike, the 14th in the row between union Vereinigung Cockpit and Lufthansa, will run for 24 hours from midnight and affect short-haul and long-haul Lufthansa flights departing from German airports, VC said in a statement. Budget airlines Germanwings and Eurowings and other Lufthansa carriers, such as Austrian Airlines, SWISS and Brussels Airlines, are not affected, Lufthansa said. Pay talks between Lufthansa and VC broke down this month. The two sides are trying to agree contracts dating back to 2012 and the union is calling for an average 3.7 percent a year pay increase for 5,400 pilots over a five-year period. A Lufthansa spokesman said the company had taken note of VC's strike announcement and regretted any inconvenience that it may cause for passengers. "This call for strike is not the right way," Lufthansa said.<br/>