DHAKA: French flag carrier Air France on Monday offered to freeze the expansion of its low-cost operation in a bid to end the longest strike at the airline since 1998.

As the strike entered its second week, management said it would halt the development of its leisure subsidiary Transavia until December, unions said, raising hopes of an end to the crisis.

Air France chief executive Alexandre de Juniac said it was ‘the last offer’ and was expected to sketch out a ‘global plan to exit the crisis’ at around 1200 GMT, reports The Straits Times.

He offered ‘to suspend the plan to create Transavia subsidiaries in Europe until the end of the year’ in order to have ‘a deeper dialogue’ with pilots but insisted the overall project could not be called into question.

Union sources said there was a ‘softening’ of tensions but complained that ‘the company still has a strong ambition to develop Transavia’.

Air France pilots are on strike in protest at the airline’s plans to develop Transavia France, which serves holiday destinations, primarily in the Mediterranean.

They fear the airline will attempt to replace expensive Air France pilots, who can earn up to 250,000 euros in annual salary, with Transavia pilots, who are paid considerably less.

BDST: 1718 HRS, SEP 22, 2014