PARIS: Air France pilots have voted to extend for another week a strike over their airline's push to develop a low-cost subsidiary they fear will undermine their jobs, their main union said Saturday.
The stoppage, which has already run for nearly a week, is already the longest suffered by Air France in 16 years.
More than half of the company's flights have been scrapped, disrupting the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers. The airline says it is losing up to 15 million euros ($19 million) per day.
The industrial action is to protest Air France's focus on its budget subsidiary, Transavia, launched to compete with no-frills airlines the likes of easyJet, which are increasingly grabbing marketshare for flights around Europe and the Mediterranean.
Air France pilots, who earn up to 250,000 euros a year, are worried they will be supplanted by cheaper labour flying for Transavia France.
Their principal union, SNPL AF Alfa, said the pilots voted 81 percent to extend their strike, started on Monday, to September 26 at least.
Air France has sought in vain to end the strike by making some concessions, such as limiting the Transavia France fleet. The company said nearly two out of three of its flights Sunday would have to be grounded.
In an apologetic message to its frequent flyers, Air France-KLM said its aim was to offer "competitive" fares and Transavia was meant to complement Air France's operations without creating any "adverse impact on Air France staff".
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