DHAKA: France’s transport minister warned on Sunday that the fate of Air France was in the balance as the flag carrier prepared to enter the second week of a crippling pilots’ strike.

The stoppage, which has already run for seven days, is the longest suffered by Air France in 16 years and pilots protesting against their airline’s push to develop a low-cost subsidiary show no signs of relenting.

‘There must be a positive approach in this situation, otherwise I think that it’s the fate of the company that could be at stake,’ transport minister Alain Vidalies told France Info radio, reports The Straits Times.

‘The low cost (arena) is not a choice, it’s an obligatory move, that’s reality. I think pilots are fully aware of this.’

More than half of the company’s flights have been scrapped during the strike, disrupting the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers.

Air France announced on Sunday that only 41 percent of flights would be operational on Monday.

BDST: 2010 HRS, SEP 21, 2014