Friday, October 27, 1995


   SYDNEY, Oct 27 (Reuter) -- An Australian trade union placed a snap
24-hour ban on Friday on Air France's final flight out of Australia in
protest against France's resumption of nuclear testing in the South
Pacific.
   The Air France flight from Paris arrived in Sydney on Friday
afternoon with 183 passengers and immediately after it was unloaded the
Transport Workers' Union imposed a ban on the aircraft, an Air France
spokesman said.
   Air France regional manager Barry Brown said the ban was
disappointing because the flight was to be the carrier's last from
Sydney before it ceased its Australian operations.
   The banned aircraft was to take 302 passengers to Paris on Friday
night.  Australian flag-carrier Qantas Airways will fly all but 80 of
the stranded passengers to Tokyo later in the night, Brown said.
   The transport union on four occasions has banned work on Air France
aircraft in the past two months in protest against France's resumption
of nuclear testing in French Polynesia in September.