Sun Weiwei, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Airport Authority, told China Daily yesterday the impact on passenger flow was "minimal" in Shanghai, as there are many alternative flights available from other airlines.

The pilots' strike affected 12 flights from Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The flights from Nanjing and Guangzhou operated as usual.

"A flight will take off from the airport for Frankfurt, Germany, at 11:45 pm as scheduled tonight," Hu Fang, a spokesman from the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, said yesterday.

According to Hu, Deutsche Lufthansa AG currently operates three flights a week between Guangzhou and Frankfurt.

The other two flights, which take off from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Thursdays and Saturdays, will also operate as scheduled, Hu added.

The pilots' strike had little impact on the normal operation of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, one of the major aviation hubs in southern China, he said.

Lufthansa confirmed yesterday that the strike of the German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) had been suspended. Both parties had agreed to return to the negotiating table to resolve their differences, the airliner said in a statement forwarded to China Daily.

The airline's Special Flight Schedule, which it implemented to minimize the impact of the strike, continued to serve as the basis for flight operations until yesterday. Returning to a normal schedule would take "a number of days," it added.

The airline, Germany's largest, previously estimated the strike could cost it some 25 million euros (US$34 million) per day.

For the convenience of its passengers, Lufthansa said it would continue to update its Special Flight Schedule, confirming which flights were due to operate. The schedule is available at www.lufthansa. com.

A sign to a Lufthansa ticket counter where passengers can change their Lufthansa tickets into Deutsche Bahn railway tickets at Terminal 1 of Frankfurt International Airport on February 22, 2010 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. [CFP]