Day one of Air France strike affects 13 percent of flights
Air France was forced Wednesday to cancel more than a tenth of its flights as the first day of a week-long walkout by crews affects the company at the height of the busy off season.
The French airline said it had been forced to cancel 13 percent of flights.
The carrier deplored the strike action and said it was doing “everything to limit inconvenience” for passengers as some 20,000 customers will be affected on Wednesday.
Air France regretted that the figure would rise as more crews are expected to join the strike. It said Thursday would see almost 20 percent of flights scrapped. Forecasts showed that Thursday could see “limitations in passenger numbers” due to “some difficulties in composition of crews.”
On July 25, Air France said some 13,600 of its flight attendants, about 35 percent of the company’s workforce, would join a stoppage affecting about 10 percent of long-haul flights. It said the action has forced the company to cancel 30 percent of the domestic and medium-haul flights.
There was disruption to some flights on Wednesday, but airport sources reported the situation was calm in the morning at Charles de Gaulle Airport and Paris Orly Airport, the two main hubs in the French capital.
An Air France spokesman said the walkout only affected the company’s main flyer and low-cost carriers were not hit at all.
Talks failed on July 22 between unions representing about half of the strikers and officials from the Air France as the two sides did not agree on how to renew a collective labor accord on rules, pay and promotions, which expires in October. The strikers said the action would go ahead as they could not secure an extension of the agreement between three and five years. Air France has sought a 17-month cap for the extension.
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