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Air France passengers worldwide set to suffer in pilot strike
2008-11-13
PARIS (AFP) - Air France passengers around the world face severe delays when pilots begin a four-day strike Friday that will cost the airline 100 million euros (125 million dollars), the company said. The pilots are protesting at plans to make them work until the age of 65. Half of all medium- and long-haul flights from Paris and elsewhere will be cancelled when the strike kicks off at midnight local time (2300 GMT Thursday), the airline said. It said it may have to cancel even more long-haul flights in the following days until the strike ends Monday at midnight (2300 GMT). Flight attendants had threatened to take up the strike next week, but they finally decided against it after obtaining a change in the legislation that would increase the retirement age, the CFDT union said. Air France said in a statement that it "apologises to all passengers for this unacceptable situation" and offered compensation, refunds or later travel dates to all customers hit by the stoppage. Air France, the French airline owned by the Franco-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM, said it has an average of 760 flights to European destinations and 73 long-distance flights from Paris a day. Air France-KLM chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta denounced the strike, saying it would cost 100 million euros (125 million dollars) and that four days of massive disruption would seriously damage passengers' trust in the airline. "With this useless strike, we are opening the door to our competitors and they will rush in," he told French radio. French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said the strike came at a "difficult economic period" and would deal a "heavy blow to French companies and in particular Air France." He also insisted that proper negotiations had been carried out with pilots who would under the new rules still be able to retire at 60 if they so chose. A minority Air France pilot union, the USPNT, said in a statement it was not joining the strike because "the reform remained optional." Air France's partner airlines Brit Air, Regional, CCM, Airliner will also be affected by the strike but less severely, an Air France spokeswoman said. The main pilots' union in the airline, the SNPL, called the strike to protest legislation that would effectively end the current requirement for pilots to retire at 60, and flight attendants to wrap up their careers at 55. The legislation, tacked onto a wider bill on financing social security in 2009, was adopted by France's National Assembly on November 1. It is currently being examined by the Senate upper house of parliament. The strikers want the Senate to withdraw the plan. The SNPL said in a statement that the legislation was a "violation of the commitment (by the French transport minister)... that any change in the retirement age for pilots would be preceded by negotiation with the social partners."
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