Strike scuttles AF flights

BANGKOK Air France pilots began a week long strike Monday that could cause as many as 500 flight cancellations daily or about half of the total daily departures on Air France worldwide.
Air France announced on Sunday that talks with unions to end the planned week-long strike were “ongoing”. But it added: “We prefer to be realistic rather than optimistic. For the moment, we are organising our flights on a day-to-day basis.”
The French pilots union is demanding that workers at the low-cost Transavia France have the same pay and conditions as those hired by Air France’s mainline business.
Air France-KLM, Air France’s parent company, plans to invest €1bn in Transavia, doubling the fleet to 100 by 2017. The expansion will include three new bases outside France and the Netherlands, with two likely in Portugal and one in Germany.
Pilot unions says they will strike until September 22. The action disrupted flights schedule throughout Monday, including late afternoon flights to Asia.
Flights operated by KLM and Delta, are not affected by this strike.
In its announcement on the strike Air France said it expected to operate 48% of all flights.
The airline recommends passengers check the“Flight schedules” section and on its mobile sites.
The airline also stated that talks were still underway and it was hoping for a solution to avoid disruption to services.

sourced:ttrweekly.com