The Nicosia Court of Appeals has decided to liquidate Cyprus Airport Services (CAS), which has been providing ground handling services for about 10 years at Ercan Airport.
Chairman of the Appeals Court Talat Usar, who read out the decision, stated that the company has more than doubled its debts, the company has no airlines to service and it is unable to pay its debts and has decided to liquidate it on these grounds. This summer, 133 CAS employees were made redundant after AtlasGlobal airlines ceased flights to Ercan on July 10.
Meanwhile, Kibris News Agency reports that angry ex-employees held a demonstration at Ercan airport. Police moved them to the airport perimeter.
The redundant workers say that they were promised temporary employment by the government, which has not been delivered. They will be going on hunger strike on 2o December, the day the 13th month salaries are paid, they said. Since being laid off, they say that they have been waiting for six months for compensation.
In September, 2018, at a demonstration, Okan Eroğlu representing the redundant workers told TAK news agency that:
“So many people are unemployed. There needs to be a second ground services handling company at Ercan. If CAS closes, another company will take its place. It is in government hands to do something about this as the state has shares in the company. We want CAS to be a company under state guarantee. This will be of benefit to the state. The government must find airline companies that CAS can service.”
In July, Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Ozersay said that: “The attorney general’s view is that most official documents at hand show that CAS is not a government entity or, in other words, a public legal entity, but a private legal entity, ie, a corporation.” The government had given some funds to try and keep CAS afloat, he said. However, the government could only operate within the law, he noted.
Havadis, Kibris News Agency, Yeni Duzen
