60% flights affected on second day of Air France pilots' strike
The Air France-KLM pilots' strike entered its second day on Tuesday, with 60% of flights likely to be affected as the leader of the French Socialist Party called for an end to the strike.
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"This strike is irrelevant when you know about the status of Air France employees", said boss Party Jean-Christophe Cambadélis.
"We must keep a sense of proportion, you can't pile up advantages, we can compare salaries but we can also look at what French people are going through today", said Cambadélis.
Air France pilots extended a strike in protest at the airline's plans to expand its low-cost operation Transavia.
In fact unions fear that the flag carrier is seeking to bolster Transavia because pilots there earn less than Air France pilots.
An Air France pilot earns about 75,000 euros a year on average with captains of long-haul flights earning up to 250,000 euros.
But unions also fear that Air France -KLM's low-cost operation Transavia could lead to jobs being outsourced , social dumping and pilots being employed on local foreign contracts.
« Cambadélis doesn't know what he is talking about", said head of the SNPL pilots' union Jean-Louis Barber to RFI on Tuesday. "Cambadélis should look at the scheduled delocalisation of the French jobs in plans to expand Transavia. I am disappointed by such a statement."
Nonetheless, Air France announced the Transavia fleet will be limited to 30 planes instead of the 37 originally proposed.
"We are continuing to negotiate" said Air France boss Frédéric Gagey. "We have made proposals and recognised the concerns of the pilots who thought Transavia could replace Air France."
Unions are threatening to strike until 22 September, which would be the longest strike at the company since 1998.
Only 40 per cent of Air France flights were to run on Tuesday.
Air France put the daily losses from the strike at 10 to 15 million euro.
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