TAIPEI - Taiwan's Eva Airways Corp began cancelling international flights after its flight attendants went on a strike on Thursday afternoon as they failed to reach a pay agreement with the airline's management.

Eva Air's website showed that flights from Taipei to Chicago, Paris, Seoul and Hong Kong were among the first ones to be cancelled, and the airline said further updates would be made later. "We are doing our best to return service to our regular schedule as quickly as possible," Eva Air said.

Taiwan's official Central News Agency first reported about the flight attendants' impending strike due to failed pay talks.

Taiwan's transport ministry said in a statement that it has asked multiple parties including rival carrier China Airlines Ltd 2610.TW , bus companies and the military to coordinate to minimise the impact. Airports across the island were also ordered to be ready to handle delayed passengers.

Eva Air, best known internationally for the Hello Kitty livery on some of its jets, operates flights to many destinations around Asia as well as to North America and Europe.

The carrier said its Hello Kitty jets, service and meal items would not be available during the strike due to the need for frequent changes to its fleet.

Pilots at China Airlines went on strike in February, leading to 122 flight cancellations and T$220 million ($7.09 million) in lost revenue. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nH9N1ZU054 ($1 = 31.0310 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Muralikumar Anantharaman) ((yimou.lee@thomsonreuters.com; +886-909-894-919; Reuters Messaging: yimou.lee.reuters.com@reuters.net / Twitter: https://twitter.com/YimouLee))