Strike grounds 30 percent of Air France flights

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - Air France will be able to operate only 70 percent of its flights on Wednesday due to a strike called by unions of pilots, cabin crew and ground staff demanding a wage increase.

In a statement, the carrier, which is part of Air France-KLM, said it expects to run 60 percent of its long-haul flights and 65 percent of its medium-haul flights operating to and from Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

It said it also expects to operate 75 percent of its short-haul flights at Paris-Orly and other provincial airports.

Air France warned travelers that "last minute delays and cancellations can be expected."

At least 10 unions called for the strikes in a bid to put pressure on the management to increase staff salaries by 6 percent across the board.

The Air France management deems the increase as "impossible" and has put on the table a draft agreement providing a general increase of only 1 percent to be paid in two stages.

The Air France-KLM group said on Tuesday the seven days of strikes between Feb. 22 and April 11 had cost the company nearly €170 million ($209 million) losses on operating income.

Further strikes are planned on April 17, 18, 23 and 24.