Lufthansa continues to strike, leading to paralysis of European air transport and soaring freight rates on Central European routes
Starting from April 10, 2026, Lufthansa Group (including subsidiaries such as Lufthansa Cargo, Eurowings, and Lufthansa City Airlines) has been embroiled in a serious wave of strikes in history due to core labor disputes such as salary and benefits, pension reform, and employee job security. On April 16-17, the Pilots' Union (VC) and the Flight Attendants' Union (UFO) launched a rare 48 hour joint strike simultaneously, escalating the conflict comprehensively.
The operation of Frankfurt and Munich airports, which are core hubs of Lufthansa, is almost paralyzed: Frankfurt airport planned 1313 flights for the day, of which 656 were cancelled; Munich Airport plans to cancel around 900 flights, with 420 flights cancelled. The two major hubs will cancel over 1070 flights in a single day, far exceeding the previous 900 flights per day. 80% -90% of Lufthansa flights will be grounded. The consecutive strikes have disrupted the travel plans of over 100000 passengers, causing a fatal blow to the European air cargo network.
As a result, air freight across Europe is generally delayed by 24-48 hours, and some cross-border urgent items, precision instruments, pharmaceutical cold chain and other time sensitive goods are delayed for more than 72 hours. A large number of shippers and international freight forwarders were forced to urgently divert their goods to European inland roads and China Europe freight trains for transportation. However, due to saturated land transport capacity and extended booking cycles, they are still unable to digest the massive overflow demand.
The air freight market on the China Europe route has been severely affected: Lufthansa, as the main force of China Europe air freight, has suspended and reduced its core all cargo and passenger to cargo routes such as Shanghai Frankfurt and Beijing Munich on a large scale. This directly led to a continuous surge in spot freight rates on the China Europe route, with regular cargo rates increasing by 35% -50% compared to before the strike. Some urgent and special cargo prices exceeded 280 yuan/kg, resulting in a comprehensive shortage of cabin space, difficulty in finding one cabin, and completely unstable flight schedules, with multiple temporary cancellations.
The heavily affected industries are concentrated in cross-border e-commerce (3C, clothing), automotive parts, electronic chips, high-end manufacturing equipment, fresh food cold chain and other fields that rely on efficient air transportation. A large number of orders are delayed in delivery, default risks are rising, and logistics costs for enterprises have significantly increased. As of April 21st, negotiations between labor and management have not yet resumed, and there is no sign of the strike subsiding. The situation of tight air transport capacity and high freight rates between China and Europe will continue until at least the end of April.