Flights Hit By Brazilian Airline Crew Strike

Brazilian airline pilots and cabin crew halted work for two hours on Wednesday in a pay dispute, delaying flights across the country days before the start of the carnival holiday season.

Television images showed dozens of pilots and flight attendants holding picket signs in the lobbies of major airports in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil's main union for airline crews, SNA, said in a statement that workers want a pay increase to compensate for inflation of nearly 11 percent last year.

TAM, the local unit of Latam Airlines, said 12 of its flights were delayed due to the strike and offered clients the option to reschedule flights. Gol also said in a statement that it had to cancel and delay flights.

Infraero, the state-run company that operates most of the country's airports, said that so far 13.5 percent of domestic flights were delayed and another 14 percent cancelled. Infraero operates 60 airports across the country.