(Oct 21): Deutsche Lufthansa AG passengers traveling from Germany to destinations ranging from San Francisco to Chennai in India face cancellations as the longest strike campaign in the airline’s history grounded flights.

Cockpit crews stopped working from 1 p.m. local time yesterday and will continue the action until 11:59 p.m. tonight, according to Vereinigung Cockpit union. Cologne, Germany-based Lufthansa said the walkout will ground around 1,450 short-haul flights and also some of its 180 daily intercontinental services after the union extended the action to include long-haul operations today.

Lufthansa has already canceled thousands of flights because of strikes this year, including 3,800 over three days in April, driving management to cut earnings forecasts in June. Of the 250,000 people booked to travel over the period, about 166,000 will see their flight scrapped, Lufthansa said.

“The strikes not only cause severe economic damage to Lufthansa, but they also harm its reputation, with considerable consequences for our company and employees that remain unforeseeable even today,” Chief Financial Officer Simone Menne said in a statement yesterday.

Vereinigung Cockpit wants the carrier to reinstate benefits withdrawn last year that were paid to flight crew retiring before they receive a state pension. Lufthansa wants to raise the earliest possible retirement age to 60 years from 55 as part of a wider cost-cutting and productivity program.

Other Lufthansa Group carriers including Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Air Dolomiti and Germanwings -- which scrapped 46 flights last week -- aren’t affected.