PARIS - Air France named Anne Rigail as the new head of the airline, which has been hit by strikes and trade union unrest.

Rigail, 49, will report up to overall Air France boss Benjamin Smith.

Smith, hired in August to restore peace and prosperity to the Franco-Dutch group after devastating strikes that led to his predecessor's resignation, has said Air France must narrow the profitability gap with its more efficient KLM stablemate.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Mathieu Rosemain) ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 53 84;))