Over 150 people gathered on the main road outside departure gate 1 of Terminal 3, Indira Gandhi International Airport demanding a refund of money or alternate flights. This came after Lufthansa announced flight cancellations due to a pilot strike on Friday. DCP, IGI Airport said that traffic movement slowed down due to the gathering of the crowd, although the situation was handled with the help of staff of IGI airport and the crowd was dispersed, ANI reported.
Lufthansa has cancelled 800 flights at its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich for Friday -- even single flights were cancelled. As the airlines estimated, 130,000 passengers are likely to be affected, in view of the upcoming weekend, which is the end of the holidays in some parts of Europe.
"Lufthansa is working with joint forces to return its flight operations to a normal status as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, the effects of the strike may still lead to individual flight cancellations or delays this Saturday and Sunday," the airlines said.
The strike was announced by the Lufthansa pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) for Friday, September 2, as a consensus could not be reached in respect to pay hike. Michael Niggemann, Chief Human Resources Officer and Labor Director of Deutsche Lufthansa AG said, "We cannot understand VC's call for a strike. The management has made a very good and socially balanced offer – despite the continuing burdens of the Covid crisis and uncertain prospects for the global economy. This escalation comes at the expense of many thousands of customers."
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