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EgyptAir pilots fly amid troubled winds

EgyptAir pilots are dissatisfied and feel undervalued amid relatively low salaries.

An airport staff walks next to an EgyptAir plane on the runway at Cairo Airport, September 5, 2013. The ongoing political crisis in Egypt has hit the once vibrant tourism industry hard, devastating a critical part of the country's economy. And with visitors scared away by civil strife in the aftermath of the ouster of President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's national airliner, EgyptAir has been hit hard by the tourism slowdown. The airline has taken the brunt of losses in the tourism sector, losing billions of poun
An airport staff walks next to an EgyptAir plane on the runway at Cairo International Airport, Sept. 5, 2013. — REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

CAIRO — When the wave of factional sit-ins and strikes subsided in Egypt, 250 Egyptian pilots resigned collectively from EgyptAir on May 6, causing yet another crisis to flare up in the country. This move is a threat to Egyptian air traffic, as the resigned pilots constitute almost one-third of the company’s 850 pilots. Another group of pilots is also threatening to leave the airline.

In this context, Sherif al-Manawi, the spokesman of the Egyptian Pilots Association, said in the ONTV program “Manshet” on May 6 that the resignation came in protest against the new financial regulations approved by EgyptAir management. The same statement was reiterated by Ali Rushdi, a member of the association’s board of directors, in a press statement on May 7.

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