More misery for air travellers

 

AIR TRAFFIC controllers (ATCs) yesterday announced four strikes for March, accusing the state of lacking the will for substantive dialogue to resolve a pay dispute.

The controllers announced they would be shutting down Larnaca and Paphos airports for four hours each day from 12pm on March 2, 7, 12 and 15.

ATC union PASEEK said it was left with “no other choice than to repeat and escalate strike measures” in the face of the communication ministry’s insistence.

The controllers accused the ministry of rejecting compromising proposals tabled by various sides.

But they did express their regrets to passengers who will be affected by their strikes, asking for their understanding.

The measures will also affect traffic in the island’s flight information region (FIR) on March 3 and 8 between 2pm and 5pm.

The ATCs said capacity in each sector of the FIR would be cut by half.

Airport operator Hermes said passengers “will once more suffer unnecessary inconvenience without having any responsibility.”

“We hope that everyone is in a position to realise that such actions cannot become a usual phenomenon,” Hermes spokesman Adamos Aspris said.

He said when the ATCs decision is confirmed through an official notice, Hermes will inform the public of the affected flights.

The controllers want to be excluded from a raft of austerity measures, which include pension contributions and a two-year pay freeze, passed in December.

They argue their income does not affect the state budget because it is governed by a cost-recovery scheme, whereby their salaries are paid by the state, which then recovers the money from the airlines.

The government says the principle of equal treatment demands that ATCs be included, given that all public servants, companies and private sector employees have contributed to state coffers as part of the measures aimed at saving the economy. 

In January, they shut down the island’s airports for four hours, affecting some 5,000 passengers.

 

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