You're 100% right freebird. They have had a multitude of hubs for a while.
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Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG is preparing for a strike by its pilots tomorrow after their union failed to drop a demand for the airline to extend pay and conditions to foreign-based crews.

The airline tonight rejected an offer by the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit to postpone its main demand, which may have opened the way to preventing a strike by 4,500 pilots tomorrow. The union said it was ready to call for arbitration over its demand for uniform pay and conditions, effectively offering to postpone the main hurdle to restarting negotiations.

“We’ve already spelled out our conditions for resuming talks: the offer to call legal arbitration on the issue of exporting tariff accords abroad is unacceptable to us,” said Lufthansa spokeswoman Stefanie Stotz in a phone interview tonight. “We’re preparing for a strike as Cockpit has evidently failed to remove the main obstacle.”

Lufthansa has said the strike may cost it 100 million euros ($136 million) because of the cancellation of 1,200 of the 1,800 daily flights the main division and its regional subsidiaries operate. Joerg Handwerg, a spokesman for Cockpit told the DPA newswire tonight that he “definitely” now expects a strike to go ahead.

The pilots said last week that they want a guarantee that Cologne-based Lufthansa won’t use planes and crews from newly acquired subsidiaries for the main Lufthansa brand’s flights.

Talks on wages and job conditions broke down in December. The union called the strike on Feb. 17 after 94 percent of pilots voted in favor.

The carrier, which has its main hub at Frankfurt airport, has called the strike “disproportionate” and said its legal advisers are investigating whether the strike call conforms to the law. Stotz said the airline is still prepared to talk with Cockpit before tomorrow.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Parkin in Berlin at [email protected].

Last Updated: February 21, 2010 15:36 EST