CYPRUS Airways (CY) chairman Haris Loizides has told the airline’s staff that he may soon submit his resignation, he confirmed yesterday.
Loizides, who was appointed chairman of the national carrier under the government of Glafcos Clerides, told the Sunday Mail he had addressed the entire staff on Friday.
“It’s true that this is what I said at the gathering with staff, that it is my intention is to leave and it’s a matter of time… but I have not made a final decision yet,” Loizides said.
“I don’t want to cause uncertainty and havoc right now, because the company is going through a lot as we speak because of the Iraq crisis, and the issue of the renewal of the collective agreement, which is now getting a bit hot, so I don’t what to create the feeling of abandoning ship.
“But on the other hand I cannot fight on all these issues having in mind there is an expiry date (on the chairmanship) very soon.”
There were reports earlier this month that a new Cyprus Airways board was in the offing. At the time Finance Minster Marcos Kyprianou said that the board would continue but would refer all major decisions to the new government.
A week later CY management was grilled by members of the House Watchdog Committee over the sale of four Airbus A310-200 aircraft, which deputies said were not sold at the best possible price.
Loizides said he met President Tassos Papadopoulos several days ago but the President did not give him a clear answer on the future of the board.
“The government has not been able to confirm yet what they want to do. They said they are not ready to make a decision yet. They said they didn’t want me to resign but on the other hand they could not let me know for sure if they wanted me to continue,” Loizides said.
He added that the uncertainty of the whole situation was what made him contemplate his resignation in advance of the airline’s AGM in June.
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.
