Strikes batter troubled Sabena

Sabena has cancelled more than 150 flights this week

Belgian airline Sabena cancelled more than one-fifth of its morning flights, as workers continued to strike over a plan to restructure the company.

About half of the firm's baggage handlers and caterers refused to go to work, forcing the cancellation of 16 of the airline's 79 scheduled European flights on Friday morning.

The strike, which has already forced Sabena to call off 150 flights this week, was provoked by a plan to slash 1,600 jobs in a bid to return the airline to profitability.

The failure of the plan to meet with workers' approval has weighed heavily on the shares of Swissair, which owns 49.5% of Sabena.

Swissair shares fell another 3% in early trading on Friday, after having lost 5.4% on Thursday.

Slimming down

Unveiling another set of disappointing results on Thursday, Sabena said it intended to cancel loss-making routes to Tokyo, Washington and Beirut, as well as services to six European destinations.

Workers refuse to accept a rescue plan

The company's medium-haul fleet will be reduced by seven planes, with the possibility of rebuilding it from April 2002, Sabena said.

Although the Belgian state has the majority stake in Sabena, aviation experts say the airline will fail unless it is dramatically slimmed down.

Difficulties at Sabena are only the latest in a string of problems for Swissair, which is struggling to cope with the fall-out from its previous acquisitive policy, under which it bought stakes in loss-making airlines in the hope of turning them around.

At the end of July, the Swiss airline finally rid itself of its stake in French airline AOM/Air Liberte, when a court approved a takeover bid from a former Air France pilot.

The decision obliged Swissair, which owned nearly half of AOM/Air Liberte, to provide 1.3bn French francs ($174m; £122m) to give the airline a new start.