Air France cancels flights as strike over pay continues

PARIS – About 30 per cent of Air France flights scheduled on Wednesday are expected to be cancelled as crews and ground staff start a seventh day of strike.

Workers unions are asking for a pay rise of six per cent across the board. Their wages have been frozen since 2011.

According to unions, the strikes have already cost Air France 200 million euros ($247 million).

Some 40 per cent of long-haul flights will be cancelled and 25 per cent of short-haul flights to and from Paris’s Orly airport and French regions will be affected.

Several meetings between workers’ representatives and Air France management have already taken place since the strike started on Feb. 22 but unions say they have not yet received a satisfactory reply to their demands.