1ST LEAD Lufthansa cancels 876 flights ahead of pilot strike on Wednesday By Friederike Heine, dpa

Berlin (dpa) - German airline Lufthansa says it has cancelled 876 flights ahead of a pilot strike scheduled for Wednesday.Some 100,000 passengers will be affected by the cancellations, which include 51 long-haul flights, Lufthansa says in a statement, adding that it will try to find its customers flights with other airlines or alternative modes of transport.The strike, organized by German pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit, is the 14th in a dispute over salaries that began in April 2014.The latest walk-off was prompted by a breakdown in salary negotiations for Lufthansa‘s 5,400 pilots and co-pilots. The union last week rejected a suggestion from Lufthansa to appoint an arbitrator for salary negotiations.Lufthansa‘s budget carrier, Eurowings, is also facing sustained strikes over pay and conditions.On Tuesday, dozens of flights were cancelled as members of the Eurowings cabin crew walked off the job in Dusseldorf and Hamburg.The crew would stay away from work between 5 am (0400 GMT) and 8 pm on Tuesday, according to Verdi, a German labour union with some 2.2 million members.A spokesman for Dusseldorf airport said that 50 of 88 scheduled flights had been cancelled, and that some of the remaining flights would be subject to rescheduling or delays.