Avianca breaks off talks with striking pilots' union

Avianca pulled out of talks with striking pilots on Wednesday after negotiations failed to make progress to end a crippling week-old strike at Latin America's second biggest carrier.

"Avianca can't do more," the airline's president German Efromovich told local radio. "The pilots who are on strike do not want to negotiate. Now it is the courts who is going to decide."

The airline asked the courts on Monday to declare illegal the strike by just over half of Avianca's 1,388 Colombian pilots.

They are calling for wage parity with the airline's pilots working on international routes.

"We regret that the administration have left the pilots sitting at the table," said Jaime Hernandez Sierra, head of the Colombian Association of Civil Aviators (ACDAC).

Avianca said the strike, costing $2.5 million a day, had forced it to cancel half of all flights -- more than 1,690 domestic and international trips -- and affected 162,000 passengers.

The union said the stoppage, which began on September 20, could continue for 60 days.

Avianca said pilots were contravening laws prohibiting "essential public services" from striking and that the strikers do not have the support of the majority of the company's 8,500 employees.

Latin America's second-biggest carrier after Latam, Avianca serves more than 100 destinations in 26 countries in South America and Europe.