Berlin  - A 24-hour strike by pilots disrupted traffic Monday at two Lufthansa subsidiaries, causing the cancellation of hundreds of flights to and from German airports, according to Lufthansa.

The pilots' union Cockpit is demanding unspecified pay rises at Cityline, a wholly owned subsidiary, and Eurowings, which is partly owned by Lufthansa.

Some flights continued since Cockpit does not represent all the flight-deck crew.

The two units, which fly propeller planes and small jetliners on short-distance routes in and near Germany, pay their pilots significantly less than the Lufthansa parent does.

Many flights took off late and 200 were cancelled outright up to midday, a Lufthansa spokesman said, but he was unable to say how may passengers were stranded.

About 1,000 flight-deck crew refused to work.

The worst disruption was at Germany's two biggest airports, Frankfurt and Munich.

Many provincial airports were also hit.

Lufthansa offered passengers train tickets to destinations within Germany.

Lufthansa said the strike came as a surprise, since it had offered pay hikes.
The union said the offer had not been worth discussing. dpa