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The industrial action by Air France pilots, cabin crew and
ground staff has so far cost the airline 170 million euros ($210
million) and contributed to travel disruption in the country at
a time rail workers are also protesting against planned reforms.
A pilots union official said talks were slated for Thursday and
that a notice for future strikes could be withdrawn if a
suitable pay offer was forthcoming.
Air France raised its 2018 pay offer to the unions late on
Tuesday to 2 percent - double its previous offer but still well
below unions' demands for a 6 percent increase.
Air France said it expected to run 70 percent of its scheduled
flights on Wednesday, the seventh day company staff have walked
out.
The head of the overall Air France KLM <AIRF.PA> group had
earlier denounced the unions' demands for a 6 percent pay
increase as unrealistic.
"The offer made by the management of Air France is both strong
and reasonable," Air France KLM's chairman and chief executive
Jean-Marc Janaillac told Europe 1 radio on Wednesday.
"It would be irresponsible if the trade unions did not enter
into talks, now that the management has held out its hand to
them," said Janaillac, who also reiterated that the unions'
demands for a 6 percent rise were "unrealistic."
(Reporting by Caroline Pailliez and Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by
Richard Lough)
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