Air France strike hits Abu Dhabi services

DUBAI - Air France on Saturday continued its operations in Dubai and 80 per cent of its network worldwide while its Abu Dhabi services were disrupted by an ongoing flight attendant strike in Paris.

In a phone interview, the spokesperson of Air France in Paris told Khaleej Times that it has cancelled 20 per cent of its flights where the passengers are less. “We have 1,500 flights daily and we have decided to maintain only the flights with many passengers to be able to contain the problem during this ongoing strike, which has been going on for four days. But, we are looking forward to ending the strike with an acceptable deal with the union.”

The spokesperson said that flights AF3848 arriving from Paris at 23:20 hours and AF3849 leaving Abu Dhabi at 13.40 hours have both been cancelled. The spokesperson said the airline may cancel the other two-way weekly flights on Wednesday and Friday depending on the strike’s status.

The spokesperson said the Union of Air France Employees is striking against job cutting. “We have assured them that the airlines will not go into cutting jobs. We have been negotiating with the union representing 15,500 cabin crew for the last 10 days.”

The spokesperson said the airline has done everything possible to best organise its flight schedule although significant uncertainty remains regarding the level of participation in the strike by the cabin crew, who are not required to notify the company of their intentions. “Delays and some cancellations of flights are expected.”

On stranded passengers, the spokesperson said that they have notified the passengers directly either by mobile phone or by e-mail. “Air France has put measures in place enabling all passengers to change their trips planned from October 29 through November 2, regardless of whether their flight is cancelled.”

lily@khaleejtimes.com