Paphos Airport strike affects 14 flights

 

19:30 AROUND 100 Swissport ground–handling staff employees at Paphos airport staged an impromptu strike from 4pm today, after a dispute with the company’s management over a plan to dismiss seven employees and reduce shifts for the remaining workers.

The strike has so far affected 14 flights, which had to be diverted to Larnaca, inconveniencing hundreds of passengers.

SEK Union representative Petros Demosthenes said the strike would last until the employees’ concerns were alleviated.

Hermes Airports spokesman Adamos Aspris apologised to the public over the strike measures by the Swissport employees.

“I can confirm that it was decided to divert flights using Paphos airport for Larnaca following a strike by Swissport workers, who are one of two handling services at the airport,” Aspris told the Cyprus Mail. “The situation will become clearer tomorrow and we are hoping that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible,” he said.

 

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.