NICOSIA (AFP) - Loss-making Cyprus Airways said it will axe 12 managerial posts with hundreds more jobs to go as part of a cost-cutting survival plan.
"Certainly there will be more staff deemed surplus to requirements," airline chairman Constantinos Loizides told state radio, "This is unavoidable as the company becomes more flexible and productive."
The cuts are part of a radical restructuring package aimed at reducing the state-owned airline's debts of over 40 million Cypriot pounds (80 million dollars).
The plan aims to save 25 million pounds a year by cutting jobs, trimming the fleet, selling off subsidiaries, abandoning loss-making routes and outsourcing services.
"A reduction of the routes and the fleet by November 1 means a decrease in the workload and those staff affected have been notified," said Constantinides.
He said the total number of job losses was "somewhere in the region" of 350.
Cyprus Airways proposes to lay off 135 permanent staff, mainly pilots and cabin crew, plus seasonal workers.
Two Airbus A320s will be withdrawn from service and scheduled flights to Birmingham, Budapest and Warsaw will be axed.
The airline currently pays a total of 35 million pounds to its 2,000 employees, and is additionally burdened with a new fleet leased in 2002.
Although trying to fight the cuts, unions have ruled out strike action for the time being, while the government is determined not to continue bailing out the airline.
"The government expects Cyprus Airways management to implement the strategic plan, as discussed with the interested parties, to prevent similar problems in the future," said Finance Minister Makis Keravnos.
The airline reported net losses of 29 million pounds for the first half of this year, up sharply on a 19 million pound loss for the same period in 2003.
Competition from low-budget carriers has hit the carrier, which is also having to deal with a deregulated market on lucrative routes to London and Athens since Cyprus joined the European Union on May 1.