CYPRUS Airways (CY) hopes to meet with pilots’ union PASIPY on Monday in an effort to avert a 48-hour strike planned for the end of next week, chairman Lazaros Savvides said yesterday.
The strike, if it goes ahead, will affect 80 flights and 12,000 passengers.
“There is a dialogue. On behalf of the company, the acting chief operations officer and the chief pilot are in touch with the board of the union and they are talking, and the general manager is trying to arrange a meeting with the board of the union and myself on Monday,” Savvides told the Cyprus Mail.
“I am sure that during our dialogue they will change their plans. This is just a feeling I have, so we have to wait and until we start talking to the union.”
PASIPY called a strike earlier this week after talks with the airline’s management on outstanding problems appeared to be going nowhere.
The 48-hour industrial action is due to start at midnight on Thursday August 25, a peak time at the island’s airports.
The pilots have been horse-trading with management for months now on how a rescue package for CY should apply to them.
In May last year, the European Commission authorised a grant of rescue aid, which took the form of a government-backed loan of £30 million (51 million euros).
The decision included a commitment by the Cypriot authorities to a restructuring plan for Cyprus Airways, which is currently being examined by the Commission.
But pilots say that while cutbacks under the restructuring plan have been tough on staff, no moves have been made to increase the revenue of the airline.
The government and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) yesterday called on the pilots to cancel their strike plan, saying the damage to the tourism industry and the economy would be devastating.
“The pilots of Cyprus Airways selected to strike during a peak passenger period and a few days before the publication of a decision by the European Commission on the company’s restructuring plan,” said Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashardis.
“In their effort to satisfy their demands, the pilots are seriously affecting the economy and the company, and we call on them to enter a dialogue.”
The CTO also expressed concern about how tourism would be affected and called for a renewed effort from both sides to avoid industrial action.
Savvides said CY was making a contingency plan.
“The plan at the moment is identifying exactly what the capacity of our planes is, the number of people on the planes, and as of Monday when we talk to the unions we will see how exactly we will go about it,” he said. “Irrespective of this, if it happens, it will definitely hurt the company as well as the travellers.”
Savvides said Eurocypria was fully booked with its own flights, so CY would not be able to use any of their aircraft. “But we are talking with Eurocypria to see if there would be any availability of seats during the evenings,” he said.
