Lufthansa pilots' strike to cost up to 100 million euros

AFP - German flag carrier Lufthansa estimated on Thursday that next week's four-day strike by pilots will cost it up to 100 million euros (136 million dollars).
  
The estimate is based on all flights being grounded, a spokesman said.
  
More than 93 percent of the 4,500 pilots at the airline, one of Europe's "big three" with Air France-KLM and British Airways, voted to stage the industrial action starting at midnight on Monday (2300 GMT on Sunday).
  
The company expects transport chaos, notably at Frankfurt airport, Europe's third-busiest.
  
Stefan Lauer, a Lufthansa board member, said earlier Thursday that reservations have already suffered as passengers turned in droves to other airlines.
  
The strike called by the unions is "disproportionate," Lauer said.
  
Lufthansa, which employs around 100,000 people, was hit nine years ago by the worst strike in its history that caused travel misery for passengers and cost the firm millions of euros.
  
The firm saw sales slump over 13 percent in the first nine months of 2009, the last figures available, with operating income sliding 76 percent, and warned a positive full year result was subject to "very considerable risks."