LARNACA and Paphos airports were brought to a standstill for two hours yesterday, disrupting around 10 incoming and outgoing flights and inconveniencing thousands of passengers after civil aviation workers staged an impromptu strike.
Around 90 workers downed tools at midday, leaving passengers stranded inside landing aircraft as staff suspended baggage services and abandoned their posts at check-in desks.
Ten flights, including arrivals and departures for Athens, Moscow, Crete, Munich, Frankfurt and Sofia, were affected by the two-hour strike at Larnaca, which ended at 2pm. Two flights were affected in Paphos.
Passengers arriving in Larnaca at noon were forced to stay in their seats because no one came to put the stairs up for them to descend, while scores of tourists were left hanging around the departure area until the check-ins reopened. Reports from Larnaca said the airport cafeteria was packed with waiting passengers, as was the arrivals hall.
The workers staged the two-hour strike after a union general assembly decided the government had not adequately secured their jobs in its negotiations with the likely new private operator of the airport, the Shacolas-led Hermes consortium.
The government is said to be close to a deal with Hermes, which is expected to take over the operation of Larnaca and Paphos airports around October or November. The consortium will build a new airport at Larnaca and upgrade Paphos.
However, the airport workers, currently public servants, are concerned about their status under a private operator.
Savvas Alexandrou, a representative of the workers, warned yesterday there would be a four-hour strike on Tuesday unless the government met their demand to guarantee their jobs when the private operator takes over.
“The employees are ready to open a dialogue with the responsible ministers to find a solution to this,” said Alexandrou. He said that until now no one in the government had actually given them a clear picture of the situation. Even Transport Minister Haris Thrasou was unable to clarify the position, he said.
‘There are no clear promises from the strategic investor guaranteeing job positions,” he added.
Thrasou yesterday called the impromptu strike “inexcusable and unjustified”. He said it was damaging tourism and the economy.
Staff at the Cyprus Airways (CY) Duty Free Shops have also threatened another strike for today but were due to meet late last night to take a final decision. The 220 or so employees, who technically work for the national carrier, also fear losing their jobs to the new airport operator.
CY cannot ensure their future because the airline cannot negotiate renewal of the contract to run the shops until a deal is signed between the government and the new operator.
Thrasou said last week he had managed to secure jobs for 170 of the employees and criticised the industrial action they had taken over the past few weeks.
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