CYPRUS Airways’ (CY) consultations with German airline Lufthansa are of a “clearly advisory” nature, while no specific proposal has been made by Canadian conglomerate Triple Five to acquire shares in the state carrier, its executive chairman said yesterday.
Responding to reports that CY was discussing a rescue plan with Lufthansa and looking into selling shares to Triple Five, George Mavrocostas said that any consultations involving Lufthansa related only to its special advisory service, which deals with specialised issues in the airline industry.
He said CY was seeking advice on how to make its flight schedule more efficient.
“However, the discussions and suggestions submitted by Lufthansa’s service are completely unrelated to any interest by this company in participating in increasing Cyprus Airways’ share capital,” Mavrocostas added.
He was speaking in Greek capital Athens, after attending the opening ceremony of the new CY route between Thessaloniki and Athens.
Phileleftheros newspaper yesterday reported that experts from Lufthansa Consulting – its advisory service – had visited Cyprus twice in recent days to meet with the CY management and Finance Ministry to discuss a recovery plan for the ailing state carrier.
It claimed efforts were underway to cooperate with Lufthansa and alter routes and pricing policies.
It was also reported that CY met with members of Triple Five to discuss the sale of some €16 million worth of CY shares.
“An initial interest has been shown (by Triple Five), but interest has been shown by other investors as well,” Mavrocostas explained. “However, up until now, no specific proposal has been made to create the preconditions for an official proposal.”
He confirmed Triple Five had met with CY and the government over the issue.
Last month, Nader Ghermezian, the head of Triple Five – a multinational conglomerate and diverse development and finance corporation with offices in the US and Canada – visited Cyprus, meeting President Demetris Christofias and other senior offices with whom he discussed bringing 100,000 tourists to Cyprus, the possibility of setting up a bank and helping out with energy projects.
CY is trying to find ways to stay afloat, after amassing millions in debt. With an EU directive preventing the state from funding the airline’s recovery, CY is trying to find ways to increase its chances of future viability.
The airline was hit with a setback earlier this week, when its pilots went on a four-hour strike on Wednesday to protest the fact that they were still having 9.0 per cent of their salaries cut, even though they had only agreed to the measure for 2011.
They prepared around 1,300 lawsuits against each and every member of the CY board of directors, despite discouragement from the airline’s management and other staff alike, who also had their salaries cut.
