Pilots at national carrier Air France have ignored calls from the prime minister to end their strike, which goes into a fourth day on Thursday, and may well last the whole week, as unions promised. <br /><br />It is the longest strike at the airline since 1998, and has resulted in only 40 percent of flights leaving as scheduled. <br /><br />Air France says the strike is costing it up to 15 million euros a day.<br /><br />“It’s difficult to support the strike as we don’t really understand what the reasons are, let’s say it is a bit irritating when you see the number of people who find themselves in a rather difficult<br />situation,” said one commuting Frenchman.<br /><br />“This makes things a bit difficult because you need to move around, go to the travel agency <br />and back, it’s a bit complicated. As we’re at the end of our stay, we can at least take it easy,” said a Spanish tourist.<br /><br />Well-paid pilots are angry Air France is expanding its low-cost operation Transavia, and basing it in Portugal where it will pay lower wages, shifting many of its French-based staff onto its books there.
