Five Norwegian airports were shut down on Friday morning due to a strike after talks between the country's civil aviation authority Avinor and the union failed, according to reports reaching Stockholm from Oslo.

Bergen, the second largest city in Norway, is among the worst-hit by the walkout, after its airport was forced to close because there no longer had been enough staff to handle an emergency.

The other airports affected are those serving Harstad in northern Norway, and in towns of Molde, Mo i Rana and Mosjoen.

All flights to the airports were cancelled. The airlines ask travelers to keep in close contact and they will made attempts to bring passengers by bus or train from the closed airports to the nearest open one, the local media reported.

Some union members at Oslo Airport Gardermoen are also on strike, but it did not affect operations there.

The conflict is primarily over wages. State mediator Svein Longva said the two sides in the conflict "were so far apart that there was no basis to put forward a proposed settlement that could be recommended by both parties."

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2008)