Strike cost Air France $86 million

A five-day strike by unionized employees caused a major dent in Air

France’s profits, with the carrier now reporting that the walk-out cost the airline over $86 million. Jean-Cyril Spinetta, president of Air

France, has now returned to the negotiating table with union representatives after the five day strike came to an end at the beginning of this week. The majority of striking workers were flight attendants who took up their position at the picket lines at the end of last week and returned to the job Monday night. By Tuesday, the situation had returned largely to normal, with most long-haul transatlantic flights and domestic routes—which had been most severely affected by the labour action—once again departing on time.

The union timed the strike to coincide with holidays in

France, in order to place the most pressure on the airline’s executive. The labour dispute led to havoc in the air travel industry, with a string of cancellations and major delays. AF and the union representing flight attendants are hoping to come to an agreement by November 7, 2007, so as to avoid further disruption.

The $86 million net loss figure quoted by AF is still an estimate, and it is believed that the carrier will provide more concrete statistics once the full impact of the strike is tabulated. Meanwhile, the carrier has promised to fully compensation those travelers who had their flights cancelled and who were unable to find an alternative route to their destination. The strike affected not only AF flights, but also those operated by KLM, which is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM conglomerate.

www.airfrance.com