NICOSIA, Nov 14 (AFP) - Hundreds of Cyprus Airways passengers face disruption early Monday when pilots are due to strike over route transfers to a loss-making subsidiary.
Cyprus Airways management has rescheduled or cancelled affected flights -- involving around 1,500 passengers -- between Cypriot airports and London, Athens, Milan, Frankfurt, Zurich and Paris.
Pilots union PASIPY said all of its 140 pilots and some cabin crew would stage a two-hour work stoppage between 8.30 and 10.30 am (0630 and 0830 GMT) Monday in protest at route transfers to subsidiary airline Eurocypria.
The union will stage another stoppage on Thursday if management does not meet their demands.
Company management slammed the pilots' action as "unwarranted, irregular and illegal" in a statement issued Sunday.
Employees are unhappy about a decision to transfer four routes -- Cyprus to Birmingham, Warsaw, Budapest and Frankfurt -- to the struggling Eurocypria, leading to "unnecessary redundancies" for Cyprus Airways staff, the union said.
Pilots say if Eurocypria cannot survive it should be shut down, but cash-strapped Cyprus Airways is also struggling to turn a profit. There is long-running animosity between pilots of the two airlines.
Management said this was the worst time for industrial action as the company was trying to implement a survival plan to cut losses and boost productivity.
Scores of jobs have already been axed, with the possibility of hundreds more going.
Company losses exceeded 30 million Cypriot pounds (67 million dollars) for the first six months of this year, and estimates for the rest of 2004 remain gloomy.
11/14/2004 13:21 GMT - AFP