A strike by pilots grounded almost all of Royal Air Maroc's 33-jet fleet for a second day on Friday, their union said. The airline said passenger traffic was hit hard by the stoppage.

'This wildcat strike prevents Royal Air Maroc from taking the necessary measures to service the flights,' the airline said in a statement.

It was the latest in a series of strikes by RAM's pilots this year, including two three-day walk-outs last month.

In previous strikes, RAM leased planes to lessen the impact of the action.

'The strike, which had begun on Thursday afternoon, had paralysed almost all the fleet of the airline as 96 per cent of the pilots walked out,' said Nejib Ibrahimi, head of RAM's Moroccan Pilots Association, which has 400 members.

RAM, one of the most profitable airlines in North Africa, had rejected the pilots' demand that it give priority to Moroccans over foreign pilots at its low-cost subsidiaries Atlas Blue and RAM Express. It argues that it makes sense to hire non-Moroccans whose salaries are more than 20 per cent lower.-Reuters