Air France puts cost of pilots strike at €500m

Air France has estimated that last month's strike will cost it about €500m (£393m) in lost revenue.

The struggling French flag carrier was in dispute with pilots over plans to expand its budget subsidiary Transavia.

Finance director Pierre-Francois Riolacci said there would be an immediate impact of about 320-350m euros, plus loss of future business.

Shares in Europe's second-biggest airline fell 2.53% on Wednesday following the announcement.

The company has already cut its profit target for 2014.

Air France said that total passenger traffic fell

Air France offers to scrap low-cost Transavia expansion plan

Air France has offered to scrap plans to expand its Transavia low-cost airline in Europe, in return for pilots returning to work immediately.

In a statement, it said the proposal would help "find an immediate outcome to this destructive conflict".

The company also offered "a renewed guarantee that there will be no relocation" of jobs.

Pilots have been on strike for 10 days and have grounded about half of the airline's flights.

They are unhappy at the lower rates of pay offered by the expanding budget operation compared with core Air France services, threatening to strike indefinitely unless the European expansion is scrapped.

The strike has been costing the airline up to 15m euros (£11.8m) a day.

Air France said it would instead develop its Transavia France project.

"Our Transavia project is a

Air France-Transavia: Confusion over expansion plans

Air France has denied that plans to expand its Transavia low-cost airline have been dropped following a 10-day strike by its pilots.

The country's transport secretary, Alain Vidalies, had told RMC radio that "the Transavia Europe project has been abandoned by management".

But Air France said the announcement was "premature", and that it had only proposed to suspend the scheme.

The strike has been costing the airline up to 15m euros (£11.8m) a day.

The dispute is over local employment terms, which can be less generous at European hubs than at core Air France operations.

On Tuesday, Air France said it expected to operate just

Air France suspends plan to expand Transavia

Air France has said it is suspending until December its plan to develop its budget carrier, Transavia, in an effort to end a pilots' strike over the move.

The decision was announced by the airline's boss, Alexandre de Juniac, as the dispute entered its eighth day.

The strike is the airline's longest since 1998 and has been costing the firm 15m euros (£11.8m; $19.3m) a day.

Mr de Juniac said the aim was to allow time for "a thorough dialogue" and provide guarantees for unions.

He told Le Monde newspaper the strike was "disastrous" for the airline.

But he added: "This arrangement must not call into question our ambition to develop Transavia, which is one of the key sources of growth for the Air France-KLM group."

Air France pilots begin week-long strike over jobs move

Pilots for Air France have begun a week-long strike.

The carrier will run less than 50% of normal flights, it said.

The pilots are protesting against a transfer of jobs by the airline to a low-cost carrier to keep up with competition.

Air France is urging passengers around the world to change or postpone travel. Last week it said it would transfer much of its European operations to low-cost carrier Transavia.

The same difficult conditions are faced by large airlines across Europe, facing tough rivalry from budget airlines and Gulf state carriers, that are often backed by royal families.

Lufthansa strike

Chief Executive Frederic Gagey told France Inter radio that the strike would cost the airline 10m to 15m euros (£8m - £12m) a day.

The airline said it would consider negotiation on benefits based on