Avianca in Colombia cancels some domestic flights amid pay dispute

Colombian airline Avianca has canceled 160 domestic flights through next Wednesday after pilots demanding higher pay refused to work overtime, the company said.

Around 1,000 pilots are demanding a 15 percent pay increase from the airline controlled by Avianca Holdings , which also controls El Salvador's Taca. Taca pilots are not involved in the dispute.

Avianca said the 160 canceled flights equated to about 3 percent of its weekly schedule, and said it was contacting passengers to offer them alternatives and would give priority to those with connecting flights.

The pilots, who are represented by the Colombian Association of Civil Aviators (ACDAC), will meet next week with German Efromovich, owner of the company, to seek a solution to the dispute.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Peter Murphy; Editing by Vicki Allen)