Brazilian flights hit by airline crews' two-hour strike

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

Television images showed dozens of pilots and stewards 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. The strike was due to end at 8 am local time (1000 GMT)

Brazilian airline TAM, the local unit of Latam Airlines Group SA, said 12 of its flights were delayed due to the strike and offered clients the option to reschedule flights. Gol Linhas Aereas 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 canceled. Infraero operates 60 airports across the country.