BERLIN – Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in a ****** by Lufthansa pilots at the German *******’s short- and medium-haul operations – the latest in a string of walkouts.

Around 80,000 passengers are affected by the ****** Wednesday that grounded some 750 flights, most of them domestic or within Europe.

The Vereinigung Cockpit union announced that it would extend its strikes to long-distance flights on Thursday.

The union has hit various Lufthansa units with around a dozen short-term walkouts over recent months. The dispute centres on the *******’s plans to cut transition payments for pilots wanting to retire early, which the union wants to see maintained.

Traditional national carriers such as Germany’s biggest ******* are being squeezed both by European budget carriers and major Gulf airlines.