Around 200 Air France pilots protested in Paris on Tuesday in a dispute over the carrier’s plan to expand its low cost Transavia arm.
Pilots are in the second week of a strike that is due to last until Friday, but could be extended.
Dressed in full uniform, the pilots gathered outside the National Assembly in Paris, the BBC reported.
Prime minister Manuel Valls warned yesterday that the strike is creating “real danger” for the airline.
“There is no reason for this strike…. It is jeopardising the image of France and represents a real danger for Air France,” he told Europe 1 radio.
“This strike must stop. Management has made a number of proposals and it seems to me the conditions are in place for the positions of either side to come together.”
Air France announced a plan to more than double the number of passengers carried on its budget airline Transavia by 2017, and expand its operations outside France.
It then postponed plans to create Transavia subsidiaries in other parts of Europe but said it would forge ahead with development of the low cost arm in France despite opposition from pilots.
Air France, which is losing €20 million a day during the strike, warned that its flight schedule would remain disrupted until the end of the month.
“If you are travelling on a flight operated by Air France, we propose you to modify your departure to avoid the period from September 15 to 30,” the airline said.