Cyprus Airways grounded after cabin crew strikes

Most of the flights of national carrier Cyprus Airways flights were grounded Tuesday when cabin crew went on indefinite strike after layoffs were announced a day earlier.

Passengers were delayed by several hours and tourists were flown out on alternative flights.

In all 22 chief stewards were laid off, following the smooth redundancy of another 123 ground staff two weeks ago.

The partly state-owned company, which announced losses of CYP 33.5 mln for 2004, nearly double the losses for 2003, justified the layoffs saying it will save CYP 200,000 a year.

It added that the crew were only working ten hours a day as they were retained under union pressure, despite four Airbus A310s being sold off in 2003.

The sharp jump in losses were due to the liberalisation of air transport in 2004 and the abolition of duty free sales from May 1.

The management said it was taking further steps to keep the airline afloat and was looking to sell off its Athens-based subsidiary, Hellas Jet.