Germany’s Lufthansa has promised a return to normal flight schedules tomorrow though a week-long strike by cabin crew is expected to ground another 941 flights today.

The airline withdrew a request for an injunction against the walkouts at the last minute yesterday after a German court indicated earlier it was unlikely to reverse a lower court ruling that flight attendants could continue their strike.

The cabin crew union (UFO) signalled yesterday a willingness to compromise, saying it would make a new proposal today to end the dispute with Lufthansa. Some 111,000 passengers will be hit by the cancellations today which will bring the total number of flight disruptions to 4,700 – with more than half a million customers affected by the strike.

If there is no movement from management then maybe there will be more strikes

The walkouts, which the airline said is costing it at least 10 million a day, even forced Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr to fly with rival Air Berlin from Berlin to Munich this week.

“All planned long-haul flights will be able to take off on Saturday,” the company said yesterday.

Cabin crew staff started a series of strikes at the airline’s core Lufthansa brand last Friday to fight for an improved pension offer for employees.

Lufthansa, which says it needs to cut costs to compete with budget rivals and leaner Gulf carriers, has said it is open to mediation, provided the union calls off the strikes. The union plans to end the week of strikes by calling on all Lufthansa Group employees to join a demonstration at Frankfurt airport today from midday, Union chief Nicoley Baublies said.

“If there is no movement from management then maybe we will have to say that there will be more strikes,” Mr Baublies said.