Cyprus Airways’ staff have rejected a rescue plan from the island’s government, putting its future in more doubt.
Plans drawn up by Air France Consulting include slashing the 1,000 staff down to 350, cutting salaries by 17 per cent and reducing the fleet from 10 aircraft to six.
The airline lost €55.8 million in 2012 and €23.9 million in 2011 and the island is itself enduring a high-profile financial crisis. Recent talks with a Beijing-based investment company over a potential cash injection for the carrier are thought to have been inconclusive.
The island’s media quoted a government spokesman as saying that a strategic investor had to be found “as soon as possible” but that the carrier would remain flying over the summer.
One potential option to help the airline would be the sale of its highly valuable slots at Heathrow, from where it operates twice daily with a fair degree of business traffic.
cyprusair.com