About 1,500 Finnair cabin staff members began a strike on October 19, grounding most of the airline's international flights, after labor talks broke down between unions and employers.

The strike, which started at 4 am, would mainly affect long-haul flights, Finnair said, adding that it would be able to fly "some" European routes and domestic traffic, the Associated Press said.

The union started the strike after talks with representatives of Finnair PLC broke down. National Conciliator Juhani Salonius, who met both parties on October 18, said they were too far apart in their views for him to propose mediation. The negotiations were scheduled to continue on October 19.

After months of talks with Finnair, the union called the strike to protest the airline's plans to recruit personnel through its Estonian subsidiary, Aero, at lower rates than for Finnair cabin staff.

Finnair said it was forced to hire some 500 more flight attendants -- to meet growing demand on Asian routes -- through Aero, because salary levels for Finnair staff were 30 percent higher.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen had urged the parties to find a solution so that the strike could be averted before a summit of European Union leaders in southern Finland on October 20. But the union said it would not back down.

Vanhanen said the strike would be "extremely damaging" as some 1,300 participants and reporters begin to arrive in Finland for the one-day EU summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Lahti, about 100 kilometers north of Helsinki.

But he said the government, which has a 58-percent stake in the company, will not interfere in the dispute.

Finnair said that the cancellation of flights would cause daily losses of 2.5 million euros (US$3 million).

Finnair flies to 50 destinations, including 24 in Europe, with a fleet of 60 aircraft. During the past year, it has increased Asian destinations and announced that it will buy 12 new wide-bodied Airbus aircraft for more than 1 billion euros, expected to go into service in 2007-2011.