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A two-day strike by Lufthansa cabin crew was set to begin Thursday after a German court ruled late Wednesday against management’s efforts to stop it.The strike over pay and pensions, due to last through Friday, will result in the cancellation of 1,300 flights and affect 180,000 passengers, the German carrier said. That amounts to about one in five of Lufthansa’s planned 6,000 flights over the two-day period. It will affect both long- and short-haul flights, a spokeswoman said. The UFO union, representing cabin crew, said it would inform the public Thursday about a possible expansion of strikes beyond Friday. Germany’s biggest airline had filed motions with courts to prevent the strike. The airline and the union have been at odds for months over the union’s legal status. Lufthansa says a union leadership team that took office earlier this year was not elected in a way that met legal requirements. Lufthansa said that it regretted the court decision not to block the strike. It said it would examine further legal steps, including a possible suit for damages.<br/>

Singapore Airlines will place the Boeing 777X into service in 2022, updating earlier indications that the carrier would take delivery of the widebody from 2021. SIA CE Goh Choon Phong says at a results briefing that the 2022 timeline takes into account the production issues that currently plague the 777X programme. Boeing has delayed the 777-9’s first flight because of issues with the General Electric GE9X engines that power the variant. In September, the airframer suspended load testing for the widebody programme, reportedly over a cargo door failure. It has also put development of the ultra-long-range 777-8 variant on hold, after reviewing customer needs and development schedules. SIA has 20 777-9s on order, with options for a further six. “Our expectation is that, with all those announcements that have been made up to this point [the aircraft’s entry into service will] still [be] 2022,” Goh says.<br/>