Air France strike, rail stoppages hit traffic in France

Air France's pilots, cabin crew and ground staff on Saturday stopped work over pay, forcing the country's main flag carrier to cancel a third of scheduled flights at the weekend during which commuters were also bracing for disrupted train traffic due to rolling strikes.

Despite the industrial action, the fifth strike over the past month and a half, Air France said 70 percent of flights would operate on Saturday.

In details, a quarter of the flag carrier's long-haul flights was cancelled and third of medium-haul flights to and from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport have been suspended.

About 30 percent of short-haul flights have been cancelled to and from Paris's Orly airport and French regions.

Unions representing airline staff planned further worker stoppages on April 10-11 on continued dispute with carrier's management over a demand to raise pay by 6 percent.

Already suffering affected air traffic at the start of mid-year holidays, million of French travelers will also face fresh rail strike starting on Saturday evening.

The SNCF rail operator expected 35 percent of its workers to take part in the strike, "consequently, the traffic will be very disturbed... on April 8-9," it said.

One in five high-speed TGV trains were set to run on Sunday, while three out of four international Eurostar and Thalys routes would be operational, it added.

The absence of workers will also affect third of regional trains and In Ile-de-France region, one train out of three would operate.

Trade unions pledged rolling strikes for April -June period with a wave of two successive days out of every five days. They are angry at President's Emmanuel Macron who wants to modernize the state-run railway operator via a reform that would open the sector to competition and end preferential workers' terms.

The social movement of Air France and SNCF coincides with protests by students, public servants, energy workers and rubbish collectors, posing a serious challenge to Macron who saw his approval rating tumbling as he celebrates his first anniversary at the Elysee palace.