Attention: Cyprus Turkish Airways suspends all flights

jamesbrownontheroad

Attention if you have flights booked with Cyprus Turkish Airways. This is the first English-language report I've found, confirms rumblings emanating from Cyprus earlier today.

Turkish Cyprus suspends all flights of KTHY
Tuesday, 22 June 2010 11:20
Source: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=60301

The civil aviation authority of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has suspended all flights conducted by the country's national air carrier Cyprus Turkish Airlines (KTHY) starting from midnight.

Commenting on the suspension of the flights of KTHY which has been having financial problems lately, Turkish Cypriot Transportation Minister Ersan Saner said the airline company's planes would be kept at Ercan Airport and no flights would be conducted this morning.

Noting that efforts were underway to find a solution to the matter, Saner said officials tried to minimize the problems faced by passengers who had flights scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, following the suspension of flights, Hava-Sen, Union of Workers of the Turkish Cypriot Air Carrier, started a strike at Ercan Airport early on Tuesday.

Flights of air carriers other than KTHY are also affected by the strike, officials said.

Releasing a written statement on Tuesday, TRNC's Prime Ministry said that the tender aiming at finding a partner to KTHY would be concluded during the airline company's general assembly meeting to be held on Tuesday.

The statement said KTHY's financial problems and high losses could not be met by TRNC's budgetary sources, and therefore, the country's council of ministers decided to help the Turkish Cypriot flag carrier solve its financial issues with the support of a partner.

Upon the suspension of KTHY's flights, a crisis desk was set up at the company's headquarters, officials also noted.

KTHY's deputy head Selim Altincik told the Turkish Cypriot BRT TV that passengers' grievance was the primary issue, adding his company was holding talks with other airlines in order to solve the problems of passengers with tickets.

Officials said that KTHY currently owed nearly 40 million USD to the Turkish Cypriot Civil Aviation Department.

Update: statement from the airline's website:

Sayın Kamuoyu,
T.C. Sivil Havacılık Genel Müdürlüğü’nün 21 Haziran 2010 tarihli yazısına istinaden Kıbrıs Türk Hava Yolları’nın uçuşları ikinci bir karara kadar askıya alınmıştır.
Bugün itibarı ile Şirketimizden önceden bilet almış ve seyahat edecek olan yolcularımızın mağduriyetlerini gidermek için çalışmalarını yoğun bir şekilde sürdürmekteyiz. Bu bağlamda Kıbrıs’a sefer yapan diğer havayolu şirketleri ile yolcularımızın taşınabilmesi için girişimlerimiz sürmektedir.
KTHY ile seyahat edecek olan yolcularımıza, seyahat acentlerimize ve ilgili tüm kurumlarına son gelişmeleri web sayfamızdan (https://www.kthy.net), Çağrı Merkezi’mizden (0216 444 5849) ve yerel basınımızdan gün içerisinde takip etmesi önerilmektedir.
İçinde bulunduğumuz bu olumsuz durumdan en kısa sürede çıkacağımıza ve 36 yıldır halkımız, yolcularımız ve turistlerimize vermiş olduğumuz güvenli uçuş hizmetlerinin devam ettirileceğine kuşku duyulmamasını rica eder, mağdur olan tüm kesimlerden özür dileriz.

Saygılarımızla,
KTHY Genel Müdürlük

...which Google translates (badly, but you get the idea) as:

Dear public,
T.C. Directorate General of Civil Aviation pursuant to a letter dated June 21, 2010 Cyprus Turkish Airlines flights were suspended until a second decision.
As of today, our company has already bought tickets to travel and to address the grievances of the passengers as we continue to work intensively. In this context, flights to Cyprus, which can carry passengers with other airlines are continuing our initiatives.
KTHY who will travel with our passengers, travel agencies and all related acentlerimize latest developments from our web page (https://www.kthy.net), call Center (0216 444 5849) and the local press to follow in our day is recommended.
We are in this negative situation soon will and our 36 years our people, our passengers and tourists to our offer that we have safe flight services continue is being doubted not to be requested, the victims are all part of apologize.

Sincerely,
KTHY Headquarters

richardw

Another report http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkish-cypriot-airline-thrown-into-chaos-2010-06-22

ttoli

Atlas Jet have stepped in and taken over all bookings , some expected delays for 24hrs, am sitting under the flight path from Ercan , flights are leaving

BusPass_2

Thanks for that information ttoli.

Can you keep us updated? Official information channels are not much help.

Anyone else heard anything?

ttoli

BusPass wrote: »

Thanks for that information ttoli.

Can you keep us updated? Official information channels are not much help.

Anyone else heard anything?

Sorry folks, Not good news, KTHY have gone under and no-one is rushing to cover them.

AtlasJet did hold meetings with Hava san(Trade Union covering Airline), The Union wanted all 700 jobs secured(part of the reason they went under in the 1st place !!!), Atlasjet had offered to secure 250 jobs(more than sufficient), thus the Trade Union said that it was unworkable.Hence Atlasjet walked.

In 2005 Turkish Airlines sold their share to the TRNC government, The Airline had no debts and $35m in the bank, presently they are $80m+ in the red!!!!.

From local press reports The London office is closed, the Lefkosia office can be contacted on (0090 392) 444 5849,2283901,228 3045 or 227 1706, website at www.kthy.net, not forgetting that we are GMT +2

canan

Can anyone tell me what is going on with booked flifgts.

In the event that they cannot find an alternative flight will they be refunding everyone back, if not is there anything we can do about it.

I would appreciate any advice, I am due to flight out next week, and need to to inform my workplace of what is happening.

Thank you

ttoli

canan wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what is going on with booked flifgts.

In the event that they cannot find an alternative flight will they be refunding everyone back, if not is there anything we can do about it.

I would appreciate any advice, I am due to flight out next week, and need to to inform my workplace of what is happening.

Thank you

KTHY and Atlasjet have reached an agreement to form a joint venture for a term of five years. Atlasjet will allocate $20 million to the restructuring of KTHY and the flights are planned to begin in May 2011 at the latest

Cyprus Turkish Airlines (KTHY) has reached an agreement with Turkey’s Atlasjet to establish a joint venture on a 50-50 profit sharing model for a term of five years, heralding the dawn of a new era in the problem-ridden civil aviation sector of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC).

The partnership structure of the joint venture -- between Atlasjet and the KKTC Contingency Fund -- will be 51 percent to 49 percent in favor of Atlasjet.

KKTC Prime Minister İrsen Küçük announced the deal at a press conference attended by KTHY and Atlasjet managers on Sunday evening, underlining that the two companies had finally resolved all sticking points and reached an agreement. “After the establishment of the new company, KTHY will continue its operations with a new brand name: ‘New Cyprus Turkish Airlines’,” he said. “Flights will begin in May 2011 at the latest. Until then, all flights will be undertaken with the Atlasjet fleet under the title ‘Cyprus-Turkish’.”

Küçük also added that 12,000 passengers who previously bought KTHY tickets will be carried by Atlasjet free of charge.

Last week, the Turkish Cypriot Civil Aviation Department suspended all flights conducted by KTHY after invalidating its operation certificate due to $40 million in debt in default. Following the suspension of flights, Hava-Sen, a KTHY workers’ union, went on strike at Ercan Airport.

KTHY’s chronic financial problems and growing debt, which currently stands at around $100 million, forced the government to call for bids last month to find a partner for the troubled airline.

Küçük also said in his speech that KTHY has been relying on support from Turkish Airlines (THY), but that this was not enough to carry the Cypriot company to sustainable success. “I want our public and the media to question what happened in this issue and who did what for what reason. We will assign the Prime Ministry Inspection Board to investigate the entire process. We are also optimistic about the establishment of an investigative commission in parliament to delve into the process. The National Union Party [UBP] has high confidence in itself [pertaining to developments concerning KTHY].”

In a written statement on Monday, Atlasjet said the new joint-venture company will not run on the low-cost model but that it will fully abide by national airline standards and offer business class on its flights.

Atlasjet said it would allocate $20 million to the restructuring of KTHY and improvements in its efficiency.

“Atlasjet will undertake the requirement of providing $5 million for the capital of the new company along with another $15 million to cover the costs of carrying passengers who had bought tickets from KTHY,” the company statement read. It also underlined that the term of the partnership will end on Dec. 31, 2015, with the option to be extended for another five years if the KKTC agrees.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=214485
29 June 2010, Tuesday

KayLlewellyn

We are due to fly to Ercan on 31 July but Atlasjet only giving information up to 11th July. Anyone who can give us some information/update we would really appreciate it........... like many others a lot to lose financially.:( ABTA told me that even though we are supposed to fly from Heathrow 'they' had been informed that we should just turn up at Stanstead or Manchester on the day of our flights and 'if there is availability on their flights Atlasjet would honour KHTY flights' if no room then basically go home!!

ttoli

KayLlewellyn wrote: »

We are due to fly to Ercan on 31 July but Atlasjet only giving information up to 11th July. Anyone who can give us some information/update we would really appreciate it........... like many others a lot to lose financially.:( ABTA told me that even though we are supposed to fly from Heathrow 'they' had been informed that we should just turn up at Stanstead or Manchester on the day of our flights and 'if there is availability on their flights Atlasjet would honour KHTY flights' if no room then basically go home!!

I wouldnt fret at the moment(Easy for me to say I know), new schedule will be released on July 6th,being Cyprus things still up in the air at the moment, things should settle down next week, more up to date info can normally be found on the cyprus44 forum(Dont think that I'm allowed to provide link)

mrsgeorginasmith

Hi,

we were due to fly to dalaman from gatwick friday 25th june, the flights were cancelled, we couldn't get any help at the airport and so booked new flights to antalya with easyjet,

we booked the kthy flights through lastmintue.com months ago and paid by debit card, anyone know if we have ny chance of getting a refund for these tickets???? we have wasted £400 on flights that didn't happen, very annoying,

any help appriciated,

Georgina

hartsdown

KayLlewellyn wrote: »

We are due to fly to Ercan on 31 July but Atlasjet only giving information up to 11th July. Anyone who can give us some information/update we would really appreciate it........... like many others a lot to lose financially.:( ABTA told me that even though we are supposed to fly from Heathrow 'they' had been informed that we should just turn up at Stanstead or Manchester on the day of our flights and 'if there is availability on their flights Atlasjet would honour KHTY flights' if no room then basically go home!!

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