Air France pilots end strike

The dispute was over plans for a new low-cost operation, which triggered a walkout that has cost it up to 20 million euros ($25 million) a day.

"I can confirm that the SNPL (the airline's main union) has decided to put an end to the strike," Julien Doboz, spokesman for the sister Air France pilot union SPAF, told Reuters.

No one at SNPL and at Air France was immediately available for comment.

Pilots have been trying to pressure Air France to offer the same contracts to those flying on the proposed new Transavia unit as to its own pilots, a demand the airline has argued is incompatible with the low-cost model.

The pilots decided to end the strike without reaching an agreement with the French airline even though talks resumed with management on Saturday night.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday called on all parties to "reconquer trust" and resume the airline's development, "notably through its subsidiary Transavia France which represents an obvious asset in the high-growth market of low-cost" airline travel.

French Prime Minister Valls put pressure on the pilots on Friday, calling for them to accept the deal put forward by the airline to end the conflict.

The government is a 16 percent shareholder in the group and sits on the board.

(Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt and Sophie Louet; Editing by Andrew Heavens and William Hardy)