Air France to cancel weekend flights due to strike

Passengers on Air France face flight cancellations over the next few days because of a strike by cabin crews protesting at staffing cuts.

Getty Images/ Pascal Le Segretain

The strike, which comes during a two-week school holiday when many families take a break, is scheduled to start on Saturday 29 October and last until Wednesday 2 November.

Ahead of the strike Air France predicted that the strike would only affect 20 per cent of its flights. But it added that last-minute cancellations were possible and advised travellers to consult its website before leaving for the airport.

The staff are protesting about the reduction of cabin crews on short and medium-haul flights from four to two, claiming that the move would threaten security.

Transport Minister Thierry Mariani has declared the strike’s timing “shocking” and pointed out that the company is now losing money.

The industrial unrest comes as company boss Pierre-Henri Gourgeon is replaced by Jean-Cyril Spinetta.

Spinetta was managing director during the company’s last major strike, in 2007, when the company was widely criticised for underestimating the number of strikers and failing to provide flights that it said would take place.