27 May 2010
BEIRUT: MEA’s pilots went on strike for a couple of hours on Wednesday, but air traffic at Rafik Hariri International Airport remained normal and no flights disruptions took place.
The strike came after talks between Middle East Airlines (MEA) and pilots over a new package reached a dead-end Tuesday as the management was reported to have borrowed some pilots from other airways in case the company’s aviators went on strike.
The president of the Lebanese Workers Party Maroun Khawli criticized MEA’s borrowing of pilots from, saying that the action was against Lebanese laws and would lead to chaos.
“We call upon the MEA administration to send back these foreign pilots to their countries, otherwise we will have to prosecute them because they don’t have a working permit. Moreover, they don’t have prior approval from the Labor Ministry to work in Lebanon,” he said.
Khawli’s remarks came following a meeting held with head of the pilots’ syndicate Mahmoud Houmani.
For his part, Houmani questioned the capabilities of the Asian pilots who were brought to Lebanon, claiming that some of these pilots were responsible for many air traffic accidents over the past years.
Houmani previously told The Daily Star that all options were open if the airline failed to respond to their demands.
“They [MEA] have hired pilots from other airlines and this action is against the law. They have no right to do this,” Houmani said. – The Daily Star
Copyright The Daily Star 2010.
