Eurocypria pilots accept Neophytou offer

By Jean Christou

EUROCYPRIA pilots yesterday agreed to accept a new proposal designed to put an end to years of friction with their Cyprus Airways (CY) colleagues over captain promotions in the charter firm.

During a general assembly held yesterday, the pilots voted to go with the proposal from Communications and Works Minister Averoff Neophytou, who made several attempts to avert strike action in Eurocypria last week.

The deal overrides an earlier one the pilots made in April with Labour Minister Andreas Moushiouttas, which they and CY accepted but which management failed to implement.

That agreement involved the promotion of two Eurocypria co-pilots to captain as a gesture of good will and financial compensation for the charter firm’s pilots who had lost out on promotions to their CY counterparts, who have long been angling for common seniority between the two companies.

Fearing that CY pilots’ union PASIPY would react and ground the national carrier, management stalled on implementing the Eurocypria agreement until the charter firm’s pilots themselves threatened strike action.

Neophytou’s solution to the no-win situation was to cancel the two immediate promotions and promise captainships to all eligible Eurocypria co- pilots who had lost out to CY, as of January 1 next year.

“We agreed to accept that they would not promote the two co-pilots on this basis,” a source in the charter firm said yesterday. “This will solve the whole problem forever, if the company abides by it.”

Six CY co-pilots were brought into the charter firm in January this year and as part of the agreement, must opt to remain in Eurocypria and cut all ties with CY or go back to the national carrier by the end of this year.

This will end PASIPY’s claims on the promotions in the charter firm, which in any case will be cut loose from CY as soon as four new Boeings being leased by the company are delivered next year and the Airbuses they currently use are returned to CY.

A frustrated Neophytou hit out at both companies` pilots last week, saying he had had enough of disruption in the national carrier and threatened to rush in liberalisation in order to give “others” the chance to do a job he implied CY and Eurocypria were incapable of.

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