Lufthansa says growth in Americas, Asia offsets October strikes

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Lufthansa increased passenger sales by 3.3 percent in October as growth on routes to the Americas and Asia made up for the effect of labor strikes. The airline was hit by several bouts of industrial action by its pilots last month - a two-day walkout that forced the cancellation of over 1,500 flights, a one-day strike at budget unit Germanwings, and a strike at Lufthansa Cargo, although that walkout did not result in any canceled flights. It said sales on European routes, as measured by revenue seat kilometers, were down 0.8 percent as a result of the strikes, which mostly affected short-haul routes. Overall, sales rose 3.3 percent in the month and its load factor, a measure of how full its planes were, rose 0.1 percentage points to 80.6 percent. (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Maria Sheahan)