By Alexia Saoulli
COMMUNICATION Minister Kikis Kazamias and former Cyprus Airways chairman Harris Loizides yesterday locked horns over recent government criticism of the handling of Hellas Jet, the national carrier’s new Greek subsidiary.
Cyprus Airways set up Hellas Jet after it abandoned a bid to take over Olympic Airways. Hellas Jet is 49 per cent owned by Cyprus Airways, while Alpha Bank and Omega Bank hold the remaining 51 per cent. It will initially link Athens to London, Paris, Brussels and Zurich.
Kazamias yesterday accused Loizides of delaying securing operating permission from the Greek civil aviation authority by 10 weeks, adding that his Greek counterpart, Christos Verelis, had expressed annoyance with the way in which Cyprus Airways, under Loizides, had dealt with the operational acquisition procedures.
But Loizides rejected the minister’s criticism and said the company, under his chairmanship, had followed standard procedures to the letter.
“The creation of an airline, as in all European countries, involves adhering to specific prerequisites before licence permission is granted. These include hiring trained personnel, the creation of maintenance settings and ensuring flight security settings. To fulfil all these conditions an airline, which is under formation, must follow certain procedures, such as hiring staff. And the staff hired under my chairmanship were for the most part Greek civil aviation staff, so that we could submit our licence of operation application,” he said.
Loizides also questioned the claim that Greek Communication Minister Verelis had expressed displeasure at the way Cyprus Airways had handled the licensing procedures. “But even if he did say something (to Kazamias) it was in confidence and never should have been publicised,” he added.
The former Cyprus Airways chairman, who recently resigned, went on to ridicule Kazamias for announcing on Saturday that the aircraft operator’s licence (AOC) would be issued within a few days or hours, when in fact it had already been issued by the Greek civil aviation authorities the day before.
Kazamias hit back and said he had not been informed that Hellas Jet had secured its AOC licence on Friday because Cyprus Airways had only received positive confirmation on Monday.
“Besides, I was in Luxembourg at the time and whether he (Loizides) had his own different sources is of no concern to me,” Kazamias said.
“We have secured the aircraft operator’s license, which is the hardest to acquire. The second stage is the securing of the commercial licence, again by the civil aviation authority,” he said. Once both licences are approved, the Communications Minister will sign the agreement and Hellas Jet will be operational.
However, he reiterated his criticism of Loizides’ handling of the whole enterprise and called on him to admit he had made a mistake, saying Hellas Jet should have been granted its AOC 10 weeks ago and not now in the middle of the summer season.
Kazamias could not confirm when the remaining two stages would take place nor when the airline would be up and running. “We will start flight routes as soon as possible, but we have no definite date yet. Cyprus Airways deals with that and will keep us informed,” he said.
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.
