Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) has cancelled 35 flights on Sunday due to the ongoing disruptions due to the four-day pilot strike.
Germany's biggest airline has had to ground nearly 2,800 flights affecting more than 350,000 passengers since the strike began on November 23.
"Almost all LH (Lufthansa) flights will operate according to schedule tomorrow. However, 35 flights canceled due to the strikes on the preceding days," the company tweeted on Saturday.
This 14th such strike to hit the airline, it began as a disagreement over pay hike. While the union demanded an average increase of 3.7 percent in pay for 5,400 pilots over a five-year period dating back to 2012, Lufthansa offered the pilots an increased wage by 4.4 percent in two installments along with a one-off payment equal to 1.8 months.
But these terms were not found acceptable by the union and Lufthansa, which faces increasing competition from Gulf airlines and European budget carriers, says it can't satisfy the union's demand.
Another unverified report Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung suggested that the main reason for the conflict is the fact that the airline considered going insolvent to rid itself of the costly labour agreement with its pilots. But company spokesperson has denied the report.
Lufthansa's pilot's union rejected the latest pay offer from the company on Friday, but lifted the immediate threat of extending their strike beyond Saturday.
"We need a negotiable offer. Otherwise, there can always be additional strikes," Joerg Handwerg, board member at pilots union VC, told Reuters TV on Saturday.
Strikes forced Lufthansa to cancel more than 16,000 flights in 2014 and 2015, burdening operating profit by 463 million euros ($523 million), according to Bloomberg.
