Nearly 900 Lufthansa flights grounded as strike continues; rallies planned at Frankfurt Airport on 30 November

The latest strike by Lufthansa pilots grounded almost 900 flights on Wednesday and German companies and other Lufthansa staff called for an end to the protests which are costing the airline 10-15 million euros a day.

Pilots staged a four-day strike last week then resumed their protest over pay that dates back to early 2014 on Tuesday, taking the number of cancelled flights in the latest round of walkouts to about 4,500.

The pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) is due to hold a rally at Frankfurt airport on Wednesday morning.

However, there could be movement in the dispute after the union said it was willing to compromise. A Lufthansa spokesman said the airline was considering comments by VC that it would resume talks if a pay increase of about 5 percent were used as a basis for negotiations.

The strike is the 15th since early 2014. Walkouts in 2015 by both pilots and cabin crew affected 7,748 flights, costing Lufthansa 231 million euros in lost profit, with around 108 million of that coming from lost advance bookings.