Lufthansa cancels 2,000 additional flights

BERLIN (Reuters) -Lufthansa is cancelling an additional 2,000 flights from Frankfurt and Munich this summer, the German flagship carrier said on Wednesday, citing staffing shortages at airports as well as industrial action and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"Lufthansa has implemented numerous measures and is recruiting additional staff wherever possible to ensure the greatest possible stability of the flight schedule and thus offer its passengers the best possible planning security," the carrier told Reuters.

"Flight safety strikes, weather events and, in particular, an increased coronavirus infection rate have now put additional strain on the system," it said, confirming an earlier report by daily Bild.

The cancellations come on top of the 770 it had announced for the week of July 8 to 14, it said. Lufthansa said the additional cancellations affected flights especially in the busy afternoons and evenings.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Zuza Szymanska; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Louise Heavens)