German airline Lufthansa says it has cancelled almost 900 domestic and international flights on the first day of a three-day strike by the pilots' union.

Up to 900 flights were cancelled for today and the airline expects to scrap about 3,800 flights altogether affecting more than 425,000 passengers, spokeswoman Barbara Schaedler said.

She added that the airline had done whatever it could to offer other travel arrangements for its passengers and rebooked many customers on trains or different airlines.

The pilots' union Cockpit had called for the strike through to Friday in a long-running pay dispute.

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