CYPRUS Airways (CY) workers are prepared to contribute their share in a bid to rescue the ailing company, as long as the government, as the main shareholder, does its part, unions said yesterday.
CY unions urged that a comprehensive rescue plan to be drafted immediately so that the company does not end up like state-owned Eurocypria airlines, which went bust last month.
“The losses recorded in 2010 and the negative forecasts for 2011 are such, that if they are not tackled with a comprehensive rescue plan, the future of the company will be very uncertain,” Charalambos Tappas, chairman of pilots union PALPU said.
The airline posted a €25 million loss for the first half of the year, expected to rise to around €30 million for the whole of 2010.
The unions said the workers were prepared to contribute their share in any rescue plan, adding everyone else must also assume their responsibilities.
“In the event the company is not protected or supported by all who can, we will not remain with our arms folded,” Neofytou said. “We will try to sensitise all political and social forces because we believe that Cyprus needs a national carrier, for the economy, tourism and because Cyprus is a semi-occupied country and needs its own airline to communicate with the world.”
They also said they would accept a voluntary retirement plan if that is necessary.
“There should be a study on the organisational structure if there is a surplus of personnel it should be tackled with a voluntary retirement plan but no dismissals,” PEO representative Antonis Neofytou said.
Unions want the government to immediately try to rectify certain factors that put the airline in a difficult position and cause losses.
Among those are Turkey’s ban on use of its airspace by Cypriot airlines, delays caused by the way civil aviation operates and high charges by the airport operator Hermes.
Neophytou said CY pays more, compared to what other EU airlines pay at their base.
The unions also want the Cyprus Tourism Organisation to give the airline the same incentives it affords others for bringing passengers to Cyprus.
“What we are asking is equal treatment. Nothing more. The problems that put us in a difficult position should be corrected so that we will be able to compete with our main competitors on equal terms,” Tappas said.
The company should also readjust its flight schedule, starting with scrapping loss-making destinations.
“It is self-evident. From the moment such a scale of losses is recorded, numerous flights are loss-making,” Tappas said.
Such destinations are Birmingham, which the airline has already decided it was axing, Riyadh and Amman.
