Passengers faced a second day of travel disruption today as Air France pilots extended a strike in protest at the airline's plans to expand its low-cost subsidiary.
Air France was forced to scrap 60 per cent of its flights as unions estimated three quarters of pilots followed their call to strike.
Unions fear the flag carrier is seeking to bolster its Transavia France subsidiary, a leisure airline that flies to holiday destinations, because pilots there earn less than Air France pilots.
A pilot for the French flag carrier earns about 75,000 euros (USD 97,000) a year on average while captains of long-haul flights can earn up to 250,000 euros (USD 323,730).
In a bid to soothe fears that management is seeking to expand Transavia at the cost of the higher-paid Air France pilots, the company announced the Transavia fleet will be limited to 30 planes instead of the 37 originally planned.
This concession, however, will only run until 2019.
The company held talks yesterday night with unions that have threatened to strike until September 22 - which would be the longest industrial action at the company since 1998.
There is "not yet" a breakthrough in the crisis but "we are continuing to negotiate," said Air France boss Frederic Gagey.
"We have made proposals. We have recognised the concerns of pilots who thought Transavia France could replace Air France in France," he added.
The plan "is of course not to replace Air France with Transavia," stressed Gagey.
The company plans to "add to the tools at Air France's disposal to attack a new market - the leisure market - by developing Transavia," he explained.
Gagey put the daily losses from the strike at 10 to 15 million euros.
Despite the strike, the situation at France's main airports was mainly calm as passengers were warned in advance they would be unable to travel.
"I was supposed to leave at 9:35 (Local time). They finally found me a flight in the afternoon," said Delhi-bound Indian tourist Sakhit Dhamija.
The head of the Air France-KLM group, Alexandre de Juniac, told French radio the situation would "improve slightly" tomorrow, with more than 40 per cent of flights in the air.
But the airline later said that it would have to scrap 60 per cent of flights tomorrow.
