EUROCYPRIA AIRLINE staff announced an indefinite strike last night, after news of its closure on November 13 went public.
Apart from the 320 striking staff, the ailing airline’s collapse will leave in limbo over 13,000 German tourists as the cancellation of Eurocypria’s flight programme looks set to affect Cyprus’ winter tourism in a “catastrophic manner”.
The strike was initially planned to start at 6am today, but a pilots’ representative told state broadcaster CyBC last night that the Moscow flight scheduled for 9.20 pm from Paphos was cancelled because pilots felt under psychological pressure and were unable to fly.
Two further flights today, going to Germany in the morning and Tel Aviv in the evening are also set to be cancelled. The strike may be termed indefinite but the 320-odd employees have until November 13 to state their case, after which the company will close.
The sudden turn of events followed in the wake of the news that the state-run Eurocypria had emailed German travel partners on Monday telling them that all future flights would be cancelled. The email did not offer any explanation, solution or apology, leaving tourism giants such as Thomas Cook stunned.
At a doom-laden press conference yesterday it was clear that the Eurocypria announcement had spread panic among travel agents in Germany and had the Cyprus Hoteliers Association (PASYXE), the Cyprus Tourism organisation (CTO) and the Association of Cyprus Travel Agents (ACTA) scrambling in an attempt to find a solution.
ACTA president, Victor Mantovani, was particularly blunt.
“We do not have any interest in the plight of Eurocypria. We just want to express our concern at the way the government is treating tourism,” he said. “It is not possible that a state-run business treats our travel partners abroad with such contempt. You must understand if this is not resolved in the next few days the long-term consequences for Cyprus’ tourism will be catastrophic.”
Mantovani explained that at the moment 13,000 people are in limbo as they have already pre-booked their tickets; however ACTA were expecting those planes to be filled with an excess of 28,000 German tourists. Mantovani claimed that it is not only German tourists that will be affected but also Russian and Norwegian tourists.
“People are worried about the 320 employees of Eurocypia that will be out of a job, but if this mess is not sorted out there will be a lot more people out of a job. At least seven or eight hotels will be closed,” said Mantovani.
Eurocypria’s future has been in the balance for months ever since the government announced plans that the ailing airline would be fully absorbed by Cyprus Airways. Then, on Tuesday it was reported on Sigma TV that the airline was going to file for bankruptcy. If this were to take place, the employees of the company would be fired and there would be no need to try and incorporate them into Cyprus Airways. Furthermore all debts and obligations of the company would not be repaid. If they do not file for bankruptcy, the government will have to pay an extra €25 million to the company which leases planes to Eurocypria.
The government’s proposal for a merger will be presented tomorrow to the Competition Commission of the European Union. As the company is wholly owned by the state the proposal might be vetoed by Brussels. Eurocypria will also have to explain to the European Union where the €35 million went which they were given by the government as part of a rescue package. Regardless of the decision in Brussels Eurocypria will definitely be closing up shop on November 13.
At the press conference, Mantovani said that ACTA have suggested three alternatives to the government so that Eurocypria’s flight schedule would be fully covered. The first and the most likely is for Cyprus Airways to fully absorb the flight schedule of Eurocypia. The second option would be for an unnamed company to take over Eurocypria flights at the same cost, and finally Mantovani said that the pilots union has expressed a will to help in any way possible.
Alekos Orountiotis CTO president explained that the organisation had received assurances from the board of Cyprus Airways that they would do all they could to help.
“There is no magic wand. We have been in constant contact with everyone concerned for over six months and are desperately trying to find a solution,” Orountiotis said.
Minister for Commerce, Industry and Tourism Antonis Paschalidis echoed Orountiotis’ comments.
“We are trying to find airlines or tour operators to rent planes to bring tourists. Our goal is not to lose a single tourist,” he said. “We must all remain calm and come up with practical solutions and not just assign blame aimlessly.”
Cyprus Airways spokesman Kyriacos Kyriacou said the company was studying the flight schedule of Eurocypria and would put every effort into absorbing as much of Eurocypria’s schedule as possible.
The way the airline’s imminent closure has been handled was the subject of scathing comments from all political parties, including coalition partners DIKO.
DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades was critical of how “the government has not even planned to service the thousands of confirmed bookings that Eurocypria have received”.
“This is one of the most difficult times for Cypriot tourism, so we should not be surprised when more and more hotels close and unemployment reaches new heights. We need to take decisive action today,” he said.
Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou responded saying the problems facing the two national airlines, CY and Eurocypria, stem from the policies of past DISY administrations.
He referred to the €85m spent by CY to set up Hellas Jet and the huge increase in staff during DISY’s reign.
“How did we get to 2,200 employees in 2002? I stress that year because it was an election year,” he said, noting that CY’s current staff has been reduced to 1,300.
DIKO MP Nicolas Papadopoulos said he was surprised at the lack of communication from the government on the issue of Eurocypria.
“Nobody knows what the plans of the Government are on this issue. The unions don’t know. The relevant departments don’t know, and all the parliamentary parties are in the dark,” he said.
Eurocypria staff members will march to the Presidential Palace, Ministries of Labour and Finance and Parliament today to hand over a memorandum, calling on the government to explain its actions.
