Hundreds of flights cancelled due to Eurowings pilots' strike

An all-day strike by pilots at German airline Eurowings caused numerous flight cancellations at the Lufthansa subsidiary on Thursday.
Tens of thousands of passengers had to switch to other flights or the train or postpone their journey.
According to Eurowings, about half of all flights were cancelled. On average, the airline operates around 500 flights a day to destinations in Germany and Europe.
In Dusseldorf alone - Eurowings' biggest flight hub - 118 flights were cancelled, according to information from the airport.
The fact that Eurowings was still able to offer almost half of the planned flights despite the strike was mainly due to the fact that Austrian subsidiary Eurowings Europe was not affected by the industrial action.
Eurowings also used more aircraft from partner companies on Thursday.
The Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union had called for the Eurowings pilots to strike after negotiations on a collective wage agreement failed.
VC is seeking better working conditions. A central demand is reducing the maximum hours spent on flight duty.
Eurowings criticized the strike as disproportionate and irresponsible.
Head of personnel Kai Duve called the demands "in times when millions of people are afraid of a cold winter and the next heating bill" excessive and dangerous for the future viability of the flight operations and jobs.