Air France pilots have ended a two-week long strike that was costing the airline hundreds of millions of Euros, despite not having agreed a deal with the airline.

A spokesman for the pilot’s SNPL union said that the strike had been ended in order for negotiations to continue in a “calmer climate”.

Air France said it "deeply regrets that, despite lengthy negotiations since the beginning of the conflict (including 15 hours yesterday)... the balanced and reasonable protocol to end the conflict proposed by management has not been signed by the unions".

The airline is planning to expand its budget arm Transavia in order to compete with lower-cost carrier. The pilots believe that the fact that Air France pilots are paid more than those working for Transavia will mean the airline will replace Air France flights with the budget brand’s services. In order to stop this they want the same contract to be offered to all pilots across all Air France's operations.