The first match of the World Cup was over before the Brazilian and Scottish football teams set foot in the stadium last night. In a surprise victory after three days of secret negotiations the management of Air France, backed by the government, beat the striking SNPL pilots' union one-nil.
The Air France pilots thought they could spoil the football tournament. But the soccer fans - and competing airlines - proved more versatile than expected. British Airways, for example, increased the capacity of its Paris flights by 30 per cent. Thousands of foreign faces on the streets and in the metros of Paris are living proof that the pilots failed.
Scotsmen wearing kilts were out in force yesterday, some of them baring their bottoms for the benefit of French television cameramen.
The Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, said he was pleased the 10day strike was over, but added: "It seems to me it ought to have been possible to do without this conflict." The dispute cost Air France Ffr1.2 billion (£142.86 million), cast doubt on France's ability to organise the World Cup, and tarnished the airline's image.
An Air France spokesman said medium-haul services will not resume until Friday, long-distance flights by Sunday evening or Monday.
As late as Tuesday night the SNPL president, Mr Jean-Charles Corbet, claimed pilots were "determined to fight to the end". But time was not on the side of the strikers.
Other Air France personnel turned against them, and on Tuesday night the SNOMAC flight engineers' union broke ranks and signed an agreement.
With the backing of the government the Air France chairman, Mr Jean-Cyril Spinetta, had scheduled a board meeting for Saturday, at which he planned to announce punitive measures against the pilots.
The only concession made by Air France management was to abandon the two-tier pay structure under which starting pilots received Ffr320,000 (£38,095) annually, compared with Ffr350,000 paid to their predecessors. But this was merely a face-saving measure for the pilots.
Junior pilots will henceforward be required to reimburse the company for the cost of their training.
Pilots' salaries will be frozen for seven years, which should save the company up to 15 per cent on the Ffr3.4 billion annual pilots' payroll - exactly what management had demanded. Pilots will be allowed to trade a portion of their salary for shares in the company, on a voluntary basis.
Mr Jospin had planned to privatise 20 per cent of Air France's capital in the autumn; the company has been such a burden that he is now expected to speed up the process.
Paris rail traffic was little affected by a train drivers' strike on the opening day of the World Cup, but the slow-down inconvenienced passengers in three other World Cup cities: Marseille, St Etienne and Montpellier. Bus drivers will go on strike today in Bordeaux, which is also hosting World Cup matches.
French authorities are eager to avoid a repeat of the violence that erupted late on Tuesday, when young men from the impoverished suburbs around Paris began hurling beer cans and bottles at a police barricade at the RondPoint des Champs Elysees.
The barricade was to filter entry to a World Cup party on the Place de la Concorde. The party was a flop; organisers had expected one million guests but only 200,000 showed up.
Riot police charged their attackers. Two police officers were hospitalised and 23 men were arrested.
