THE Cyprus Airways (CY) restructuring plan does not even meet the basic criteria and is “light and flimsy,” an aviation consultant hired by the airline’s pilots has said.
“The Plan as currently presented barely meets the basic criteria but is rather a list of cost-cutting and some revenue-generating activity, “ said UK-based Lowedexxaviation. “Whilst this is useful for short-term expediency it is probably sub-optimal as a blueprint for long-term direction.”
Pilots have rejected the latest plan to rescue the ailing national carrier, saying it was inadequate.
“It does not have a business plan to rescue the company, it does not have offsetting measures for the workers and most importantly it is without prospects for tomorrow,” the pilot’s union PASYPI said last week.
This is rejected by the company.
Lowedexxaviation said the document is quite light and flimsy for a plan that is meant to guide the restructuring of a business with a near €200 million turnover.
It did not contain passenger or route data or long-term projections but it did include “a great number of unsupported assumptions, particularly with regard to revenues and some costs.”
The firm said there was an absence of historic and projected data on passenger numbers, available seat kilometres, flights, aircraft hours, load factor and average fare.
“Whilst we recognise that this is a Restructuring rather than a Business Plan its results must surely be drawn upon a production-based model and it would have been very helpful if this data had been included,” the consultant said.
It also provided scant information regarding the development of the network and the routes the airline proposed to fly in its restructured form.
There is an absence of forecasts of production – financial projections only extend to 2014 -- and how the resources meet the needs, Lowedexxaviation said.
The four-page review concluded that the plan, as presented, “is not strategic in nature and is in reality an emergency cost-cutting programme.”
Pilots said the findings were a slap in the face for the creators and supporters of the plan as they reiterated their demand that the airline’s management be replaced.
“We have first-hand experience of the handling of problems by the people who manage us and we do not expect anything better.” PASYPI said. “All this, which constitutes a crime against the company, the workers and the public in general, comes as no surprise to us.”
