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Friday saw the start of a four day strike by Air France pilots, protesting at new rules that will make them work until the age of 65.

Two-thirds of long haul flights and half of all medium haul flights were cancelled on Friday, with unions expecting even more disruption this weekend.  Air France however said they hope to have around 60 to 70 percent of long haul flights operating today (Saturday).  The strike runs until midnight on Monday.

Air France said in a statement that it "apologises to all passengers for this unacceptable situation" and offered compensation, refunds or later travel dates to all customers hit by the stoppage.

Air France, the French airline owned by the Franco-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM, says it has an average of 760 flights to European destinations and 73 long-distance flights from Paris on an average day.

Its partner airlines Brit Air, Regional, CCM and Airliner were also affected by the strike but less severely.  SNCF said it would run extra high-speed trains over the weekend to provide an extra 130,000 places to help stranded passengers.

The SNPL union called the strike to protest legislation that would effectively end the current requirement for pilots to retire at 60, and flight attendants to wrap up their careers at 55.

The legislation, tacked onto a wider bill on financing social security in 2009, was adopted by France's National Assembly on November 1.  It is currently being examined by the Senate upper house of parliament. The strikers want the Senate to withdraw the plan.

Air France-KLM chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta denounced the strike, saying Thursday it would cost 100 million euros (125 million dollars) and that four days of massive disruption would seriously damage passengers' trust in the airline.  French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau insisted that proper negotiations had been carried out with pilots who would under the new rules still be able to retire at 60 if they so chose.