CIVIL Aviation yesterday rubbished reports that aviation inspectors with the department have threatened to resign, allegedly because their superiors frequently countermand their decisions on flight safety.
According to Phileleftheros, which reported the story, in at least four cases inspectors ruled that aircraft should not be allowed to take off, but their recommendations were overruled by their boss, Civil Aviation director Leonidas Leonidou.
The recommendations involved both commercial airliners and helicopters, the paper claimed.
Reacting to this, the inspectors allegedly threatened to quit as they did not want to shoulder any responsibility for a potential aviation accident.
The paper said that the inspectors have sent letters to Communications Minister Maria Malakhtou-Pamballi, informing her of their concerns.
Makis Constantinides, permanent secretary at the Communications Ministry, told the Mail yesterday that the inspectors in question were merely “discussing their terms of employment”.
Many of the inspectors are themselves highly experienced pilots.
“They have met with the minister, but I have no further comment,” Constantinides said.
Speaking on state radio, Civil Aviation head Leonidas Leonidou dismissed the reports – which painted a picture of a department in shambles – as “fairy tales”.
The Mail contacted Leonidou, who explained the situation. He said that just one of the inspectors had resigned, “for his own reasons, which have nothing to do with the operation of the department or flight safety.”
And contrary to the Phileleftheros story, the other two inspectors had not threatened resignation; instead, they wanted to renegotiate their contract, he insisted.
At present, Civil Aviation employs two flight operations inspectors and three more airworthiness inspectors.
Leonidou said the Flight Safety Unit had been substantially beefed up in the wake of the Helios air crash two years ago.
“By international standards, and taking into account the size of Cyprus’ aviation industry, the personnel we have at the FSU is deemed to be more than enough,” Leonidou claimed.
“There’s a popular misconception that these are the guys who check all the nuts and bolts on the airplanes… but that’s not what they do,” he added.
Leonidou said the two inspectors who had contacted the Communications Minister wanted permanent jobs; right now they are working on a three-year contract.
He said they had voiced a number of grievances, such as the fact that their contracts do not provide for pensions, holidays, paid leave or sick leave.
Back in July, Civil Aviation called on Parliament to push for the opening of more permanent positions in the department.
According to Leonidou, during the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) recently held on the island, foreign officials had the “best words to say about Cyprus and the work we’ve been doing.
“Now, all of a sudden, this story comes out. Sadly, I think we can put it down to scandal-mongering, which is trying to feed off people’s fears in the wake of the Helios disaster.”
