Airport staff stand next to an EgyptAir plane on the runway at Cairo Airport (Photo: Reuters)
For the third day in a row, a number of EgyptAir pilots Saturday have been intentionally causing delays to some national and international flights, according to Al-Ahram airport stringer.
Pilots have been demanding a 30 percent pay raise after nine years of earning fixed salaries. The stringer noted that while the pilots are not on a full-fledged strike, they are intentionally causing delays to a number of flights.
An anonymous source familiar to the matter told Ahram Online the pilots of EgyptAir Boeing 737/800 have been behind the “slowdown” and are calling for better working conditions.
Some of the pilots have been creating a delay on the timing of flight departures.
Others would not show up to their scheduled flight which would necessitate a change in aircraft type, leading to extra costs for the carrier.
Last year, a group of 224 pilots submitted letters of resignation in objection to a newly issued financial charter, while demanding raises for pilots whose salaries have been fixed since 2006.
However, the pilots later withdrew their resignations “for the benefit of their company and in response to the calls of the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi [to do so].”
In December 2014, EgyptAir announced that it had accumulated EGP 10.11 billion in losses over the previous three years.
EgyptAir profits reached a peak of LE 695 million in the 2007/2008 fiscal year, but the national carrier began suffering losses following the uprising in January 2011, data on its website reveals.
Short link: