German pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) said further and more widespread strikes were possible in a row with Lufthansa over early retirement benefits, as a two-day strike at the airline's Germanwings budget unit draws to a close.

"We will first give Lufthansa time to react," VC board member Markus Wahl told Reuters on Friday.

"We are not ruling out further strikes and are considering all options, whether strikes affecting short-haul, long-haul, Cargo or a combination," Wahl said, adding that calling a strike for an unspecified amount of time was also an option.

The Germanwings strike started at 2300 GMT on Wednesday and is due to run until 2259 GMT on Friday. It has affected 14,000 passengers and Germanwings says costs will amount to more than 10 million euros ($11 million).

The strike is the eleventh by the VC pilots since last April. Both sides, however, seem unwilling to budge in the row over early retirement benefits, which Lufthansa wants to change for new starters to reflect increasing life expectancies and cut costs.

Earlier on Friday, a cabin crew union said it had agreed more time to negotiate with Lufthansa in its own pay talks, and that its members would therefore not strike for now.

Germanwings said it managed to operate 60 per cent of scheduled flights on both Thursday and Friday and that operations would be normal on Saturday. – Reuters