Pilots urged to end strike at Air France
(ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION)
The French government called for an end to the Air France pilots strike, now in its third day, as the dispute over cost cuts threatened 60 percent of the airline's flights on Wednesday.
Budget Minister Emmanuel Macron called for a swift resolution, telling Europe 1 radio that "we cannot accept that a country gets blocked because of just a few".
The comments by Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Macron came a day after the government won a confidence vote in parliament by a thin margin, with Valls telling deputies that France needed pro-business reforms but without compromising the country's social model.
The pilots are carrying out a week-long strike over the airline's plans to expand the low-cost operations of its Transavia brand by setting up foreign bases as it seeks to fight back against fierce competition from budget carriers.
Air France is trying to boost its earnings by expanding Transavia but says that in doing so i
The French government called for an end to the Air France pilots strike, now in its third day, as the dispute over cost cuts threatened 60 percent of the airline's flights on Wednesday.
Budget Minister Emmanuel Macron called for a swift resolution, telling Europe 1 radio that "we cannot accept that a country gets blocked because of just a few".
The comments by Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Macron came a day after the government won a confidence vote in parliament by a thin margin, with Valls telling deputies that France needed pro-business reforms but without compromising the country's social model.
The pilots are carrying out a week-long strike over the airline's plans to expand the low-cost operations of its Transavia brand by setting up foreign bases as it seeks to fight back against fierce competition from budget carriers.
Air France is trying to boost its earnings by expanding Transavia but says that in doing so i