The airline said 20 percent of its flights would be cancelled on Thursday as around 36 percent of its cabin crew would be staying home in protest.

Air France also said it might have to reduce the number of passengers on some of its flights with striking cabin crew members, and last-minute delays and cancellation might occur.

The strike is expected to last until 2 August and in total is expected to affect some 30,000 passengers.

At the heart of the action is the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) as the current document expires in October.

Air France’s administration wants to extend the current CBA for a further 17 months, which cabin crew unions consider “insufficient.”

Travel to and from France was again greatly disrupted last month when France Air Traffic Controllers staged strike action for the tenth time in 12 weeks.

It was also the 50th strike by the French air traffic controllers since 2009.