CYPRUS Airways (CY) union CYNIKA has raised the issue of the airline’s crew being among the last still staying overnight on the Tel Aviv run, a union spokesman said yesterday.
Pilot Marios Karentenas told the Cyprus Mail that he was awaiting an answer from the national carrier’s general manager on the issue.
“This is very serious,” he said. “I heard from a member of an Air France crew that they didn’t want to stay overnight. We are looking into the issue where our members are concerned.”
CY said on Monday that it had not altered its flight schedule for Tel Aviv, making it one of the few European airlines that haven’t done so.
KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Swissair have all altered schedules to safeguard the security of their crews, which leaves CY among the few airlines keeping staff overnight in Tel Aviv.
CY staff unions appeared unaware that the other airlines had altered schedules to take into account staff concerns.
CY operates almost daily flights to Tel Aviv, one of the national carrier’s three most profitable routes along with Athens and London Heathrow.
The flights leave Larnaca at 10.30pm and return the following morning at 6am, giving staff a 4-5 hour stopover at a hotel near Ben Gurion Airport. The early morning flight is to facilitate travellers from Israel in making early connections to European capitals from Larnaca Airport.
“Since we found out about the other airlines, I have raised the issue with the general manager,” Karentenas said. We are now waiting for an answer. This is most serious.”
He said the union would try to persuade CY to alter its schedule or at least arrange for crews to stay in the airport before the flight turnaround. He was also trying to contact CY staff in Israel for an assessment of the situation, he added.
“Somehow I don’t think we are any braver than any of the other crews,” he said.
CY spokesman Tassos Angelis said on Monday that the airline had not received any complaints from staff, but that they would look at the issue if concerns were raised.
“The conditions for our crews are somewhat different in that they stay
overnight in a hotel near the airport for about four hours before they return on the morning flight to Larnaca,” Angelis said yesterday, adding that so far there did not seem to be a cause for alarm.
KLM was the first European airline to alter its schedule last week after the latest escalation of violence in the region, stopping in Cyprus to allow crews to stay overnight at Larnaca.
Lufthansa and British Airways on Sunday joined other major European airlines in altering schedules to Tel Aviv to avoid flight crews having to stay the night.
KLM’s night flight from Amsterdam leaves an hour later and stops in Larnaca to pick up a fresh crew. Flight crews stay the night in Larnaca.
Swissair will not make any stops but it pushed back the time of its night flight from Zurich so crews would not have to stay in Israel.
Air France last month cancelled its daily evening flight from Paris to Tel Aviv due to low capacity. Prior to stopping its evening flight, the airline stopped in Cyprus to change crews.
US carriers Continental and Delta – which both fly nonstop from New York to Tel Aviv – said they had not made any changes to their schedules.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
