The four-day strike by 3,800 pilots is set to wind down on Monday but, given that little or no progress has been made in dispute over pay, pilots are likely to strike again.

And ground staff are also planning industrial action, aiming to down tools on Tuesday 10 September to protest at the government's plan to reduce its 54.4% stake to 20% next year.

The airline says the ground stoppage will not interrupt flights, which it promises will be back to normal by Tuesday.

Flights will face further disruption until the pilots return to work. Air France says it hopes to keep 60-70% of its flights in the air on Monday.

Fight over pay

The pilots' strike started on Friday after contract negotiations fell apart.

The pilots wanted a 17% rise, pointing out that their colleagues on other European airlines - SAS and Lufthansa, for example - have won huge pay increases.

Not only that, but a decade has gone by since their last significant pay rise.

But Air France's management, whose offer to staff was about 7%, countered that its rivals' balance sheets had been hammered by the generous pay rises they offered staff.

No meeting of minds

The fact that Air France is the only major European carrier to register a profit in 2001 provides ammunition for both sides.

The management insists that pay restraint is the only way to keep the enterprise on track.

Salaries are already 6% higher on average than many competitors, it says.

Speaking on the RTL radio station over the weekend, the company's chief executive, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, said the demands were "unrealistic".

"No company can afford to pay such an increase," he said.

But the pilots' unions say the company's profitability means there is room for them to share in the airline's success.

And while the "channel (for talks) is not closed", Christian Paris, a spokesman for the SNPL union's members on the airline's administrative council, said he was sceptical of any fresh talks before the strike wound down.

"The time is too short," he said.

"The talks are going to take time and energy" to conclude," he added.