Air France hit by pilots' strike

Passengers queue at Roissy airport, Paris

PARIS, France -- Air France has been forced to ground many of its domestic and international services after pilots began a four-day strike.

The airline cancelled half its European flights and more than a third of its long-haul services from Friday, the national carrier told The Associated Press.

It said the strike mainly affected flights originating in France, where 38 percent of international flights, 48 percent of European flights and 30 percent of short-haul flights were cancelled.

The strike is expected to last until Monday.

Most travellers stayed away from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris following advance warnings of disruption, but a telephone hotline supplying information on flights was inundated with calls, Reuters news agency said.

RESOURCES • Air France Web site

The carrier said in a press statement it was liaising with other airlines to transfer and reroute as many passengers as possible, while providing accommodation for others until alternatives flights can be found.

The pilots' action follows the collapse of talks over a new agreement on pay and conditions.

They are asking for a 10 percent pay increase on top of 7 percent they have already received within the last year.

Air France chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta said that pilots' demands were unrealistic.

"The pilots are responsible, realistic, qualified people, who know the (state of the) economy," Spinetta told RTL radio on Friday.

"They know that these demands are not realistic.

"Apart from the reduced flight plan we've announced, no more flights have been cancelled at short notice," he added.

Air France shares were down by one percent on Friday after tumbling six percent the day before on news of the strike and falling profits.

On Wednesday, the airline had announced that its net profit fell 19 percent to 159 million euros ($157.4 million) in the three months to June 30, and said it was reducing capacity along with other airlines to meet a slump in ticket sales around September 11, the anniversary of the hijack terror attacks on the U.S.

The Civil Aviation Pilots Union blamed Air France officials for "being incapable of putting in place a modern social policy."

The strike, called by six pilots' unions, is the second walkout to affect the country's airline industry this year.

In June, hundreds of flights to and from France were disrupted or cancelled because of massive protests by air traffic controller against the European Union's "single sky" plan.