A four-day pilots’ strike at German national airline Lufthansa began on Monday and is causing massive disruption for travellers, with 800 flights expected to be cancelled per day. Lufthansa’s management is seeking a court injunction to stop the strike.

Pilots at German national airline Deutsche Lufthansa began a four-day strike on Monday that is leading to massive disruption with some 800 flights due to be cancelled on Monday alone, around two thirds of all scheduled flights, the airline said.

The strike by 4,000 pilots is the largest in German aviation history and has caused chaos at Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Berlin airports.

The airline’s management applied for a court injunction on Monday to try to force the pilots to return to work. A spokeswoman for the airline said the strike was having a disproportionate impact and that the management had a responsibility to prevent damage to the firm, its staff and its shareholders.

The Frankfurt labour court will consider Lufthansa’s request at a hearing on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. CET (4.30 p.m. GMT). Lufthansa is claiming that the strike is in breach of rules governing labor relations, the court said.

The pilots are striking over demands for job guarantees because they fear Lufthansa plans to cut staff costs by shifting jobs to foreign subsidiaries such as Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines or Lufthansa Italia, where salaries are lower.

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