CY set to announce heavy losses

CYPRUS Airways (CY) is expected to announce heavy losses for the first six months when results are published tomorrow amid ongoing discussions on the future of the airline.

Although the company is remaining tight-lipped on the extent of the losses for the first half, it is believed the figure will run into millions, as the results do not incorporate the peak tourist months of July and August.

CY sustained a £20.9 million record net loss in 2003, compared to a net profit of £10 million in 2002, partly due to the cost of setting up its Athens-based operation Hellas Jet, which is losing around £1 million a month.

Hellas Jet is to come under scrutiny in the ongoing talks on a strategic plan to save the airline, which will run out of cash by November if it continues as it is and will fold by the end of the year unless drastic steps are taken, the government says.

Talks have already been completed between management and some of the unions on the strategic plan, which calls for staff cuts and fleet reduction among other measures.

Pilots, who have come under fire for the size of their wage packets, are due to meet management on Tuesday.

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.