Lufthansa cancels hundreds of flights after pilot strike goes ahead

German airline Lufthansa cancelled almost 900 flights on Wednesday after a last-minute legal challenge to a planned pilot strike failed.

876 flights which were due to depart on Wednesday will not fly, leaving thousands of passengers angry, including many on intercontinental flights. The carrier said those affected will be able to cancel or change their booking at no charge.

The two-day strike over pay conditions began at midnight local time on Wednesday, and is part of a long-running dispute between the company and its pilots.

Since 2014, pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit has organised 14 strikes against Lufthansa.

The German company launched a late legal challenge in order to stop the strike from going ahead, but a labour court in Frankfurt rejected the airline's appeal.

The union represents 5,400 pilots for Lufthansa, and it had warned last week about the strike after talks between both parties about the wage demands broke down. Pilots are asking for a 3.7% pay rise dating back to 2012.

In a statement Lufthansa apologised to its customers for the disturbances.

"Lufthansa sincerely apologizes to its passengers for the inconvenience caused by the strike of the pilots union “Vereinigung Cockpit” and will do everything possible to keep the impact as low as possible," the company said. "A special flight plan for 24 November 2016 will be announced at 12:30 German local time."

An unrelated dispute between Lufthansa's budget sister carrier Eurowings led to to the cancellation of 60 flights on Tuesday.