German airline Lufthansa cancelled flights Friday before the start of a six-hour strike by pilots, saying the move would help it to resume operations quickly out of its Frankfurt hub at the weekend.
Vereinigung Cockpit, the pilots' labor union, has been in months of negotiations with the carrier over the terms an early retirement scheme, dpa reported.
Union members will refuse to fly jets to German and European destinations out of Frankfurt from 5 pm to 11 pm (1500 to 2100 GMT) Friday. Long-haul flights are not affected.
In response, Lufthansa scratched more than 200 flights from its Friday schedule, including Frankfurt-bound flights departing three or more hours earlier from other European capitals.
It said about 25,000 passengers were affected by the cancellations. It offered customers rebookings on other dates, on other airlines or on railway trains for the shorter domestic connections.
A small core of non-union pilots are expected to keep some of the departures in operation.