Air France pilots end strike after 14 days
Source: AP-Excite
By JAMEY KEATEN
PARIS (AP) — Despite no deal in sight, Air France' s main pilots union on Sunday unilaterally ended a 14-day strike that grounded roughly half of the airline's flights, stranded passengers worldwide, cost tens of millions of dollars and led France's prime minister to decry a "selfish" walkout.
After a late-night, 15-hour negotiating session with management, leaders of the SNPL pilot union walked away with no accord, but with the realization that the strike "is not an end in itself," union spokesman Antoine Amar said. In a later statement, the union said it was ending the strike "in the interests of the company and passengers."
The walkout, which began Sept. 15, was the longest in more than four decades initiated by pilots at Air France, union official Guillaume Schmid said. The 81-year-old company today conducts about 1,500 flights each day, and last year had 77.3 million passengers, making it one of Europe's biggest carriers.
Air France, in its own statement, said service would "progressively" start returning to normal on Tuesday — meaning that flights already canceled between now and then won't be reinstated. The company hailed the end of the strike, saying it "will have been costly and damaging. It has only lasted too long."
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A pilots shakes hands with an Air France worker as they gather in front of the company headquarters to demonstrate against the pilots strike, in Roissy, outside Paris, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014. Air France-KLM says it isn't ready to abandon a plan to transfer activities to a low-cost carrier, contradicting a government minister's claim. France's junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, said on RMC radio Wednesday that Air France was withdrawing the plan in the face a protracted strike by pilots. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
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