DHAKA: Air France says it will only operate 45% of its scheduled flights on Sunday after talks with pilots failed to produce an agreement to end a 14-day strike.

More than half of its pilots planned to strike, the airline said, reports the BBC.

Pilots’ union SNPL offered to end the strike late on Friday if an independent mediator between the two parties was appointed.

The airline said a mediator was not necessary.

‘A mediator should intervene only if talks between the management and its union representatives fall apart,’ said an Air France spokeswoman.

‘There are still talks.’

French prime minister Manuel Valls also rejected the demand for a mediator.

Valls has called for an end to the strike, calling it ‘intolerable for customers, intolerable for the company, and intolerable for the country's economy’.

The government owns a 16% stake in the airline, which merged with Dutch carrier KLM in 2004.

The airline says the strike is costing it about 20m euros a day.

BDST: 1701 HRS, SEP 28, 2014