SCORES of accusations have been made against Helios Airways over the past three days, not only from distraught relatives speaking from the depths of their grief but also from current and former employees and passengers.
The airline has been accused of knowing that the ill-fated Boeing had problems with its air conditioning system, leaving relatives of the victims for six hours at Larnaca airport without information, and insensitivity towards other passengers scared to board Monday’s scheduled flights.
Newspapers yesterday accused the company of telling half truths, with officials appearing evasive at a news conference on Monday and in television interviews yesterday.
The company was also believed to have given foreign agencies a difficult time, contradicting news coming out of Cyprus on the status of its fleet and on the police raid on Helios’ offices on Monday night.
Helios president Andreas Drakos, who gave the news conference at Larnaca Airport on Monday, also came under fire for not knowing how long the German pilot who died in the crash had worked with the company, and of not answering the many questions people had.
Yesterday, the airline’s managing director Demetris Pantazis was grilled on CyBC television.
Asked why former engineer Kyiacos Pilavakis left the company earlier this year, he said: “It was not because he had a problem with the safety of the company.”
In response to questions about the German pilot, Pantazis said: “The German pilot was very qualified to EU levels and has over 17,000 flying hours under his belt. He had the necessary experience and more than the airline’s other captains.”
He also said the co pilot Pambos Charalambous was experienced with over 7,000 flying hours.
Commenting on statements by the co-pilot’s relatives that he had repeatedly complained of problems with the Boeing, Pantazis said: “I can’t comment on what someone says to their friends and family. If there was a problem with the plane it is written in the log books and they cannot be altered.”
Commenting on Monday night’s raids on Helios offices in Larnaca, Pantazis said that from the moment the accident happened it was the company’s policy to hand over all the necessary information. “We have nothing to hide,” he added.
Drakos, who said his own relatives had flown on Helios planes in the past two days, said that the airline’s main aim now was to assist the families. Financial help to the families will be 20,000 euros for each passenger, he said.
“There is a psychological issue but the company is not going to stop its flights. There are difficulties surely because we have lost one of our planes and our passengers.
He said that before the plane left, all checks and controls were conducted by the engineering department, which confirmed the plane was airworthy.
“Unfortunately we don’t know the cause of the accident. We are as keen as everyone else around the world to find out the cause. We don’t know yet what happened.”
He added there was a lot of “gossip” going around.
