Air France warns of flight cancellations on Monday

[PARIS] Air France-KLM warned on Saturday that it was preparing to cancel roughly half of its scheduled flights on Monday because of a dispute with pilots, a move that has the potential to disrupt the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers.

Frédéric Gagey, chief executive of the company's Air France unit, said that negotiations with union leaders would continue through the weekend in the hope of averting a week-long strike by the pilots, who are seeking to ensure that the 250 new pilots whom the group aims to hire for its budget carrier over the next five years will be employed under the same contract as pilots flying under the main Air France brand.

"On the basis of what we have now, I think we shall only be able to operate roughly 50 per cent of flights," Mr Gagey said in an interview on French radio.