‘Clean bill of health’ for Helios Boeing

AN Helios Airways spokesman yesterday confirmed that one of the company’s two Boeing 737-800s “has rejoined our fleet with a clean bill of health”.

The plane had been flown on Sunday to Sweden where it underwent a comprehensive, two-day check under the supervision of Boeing experts. Helios had said the check was in order to ease public concern.

Nicos Anastassiades, sales and marketing manager with Helios, told the Cyprus Mail that the company’s second Boeing was currently being checked out in Sweden. “The inspection is underway and should be completed by the end of the weekend.”

Last week, Helios spokeswoman Vicky Xitas had said: “The company is not grounding its fleet. It will continue flying but we thought it was better to carry out these checks to help restore people’s confidence and to stop any rumours and scare mongering.”

The move came hours after a Helios flight from Cyprus to Luton airport was diverted to Stansted after the pilot reported a problem with the aircraft’s flaps.

Helios’ third remaining aircraft is a leased Airbus and does not carry the company logo.

The under-fire company released a statement yesterday afternoon saying: “Helios Airways Ltd would like to reiterate that it is fully operational and is sub-chartering aircraft in order to meet its existing flight schedules. Under the unavoidable extraordinary circumstances that Helios is currently facing we are doing everything in our power to fulfil our schedule. We deeply regret the fact that we had to cancel flights and face delays on others. We anticipate that our programme will be back to normal by August 28.”

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.