2004 Letter Warned Of Safety Falling To "Third World Levels"

The government on Cyprus says it's just not going to talk about it --  a developing flap over aviation safety as pointed out by a British aviation expert two years ago.

Andrew Varley, who represents the British CAA in the Mediterranean, says efforts to create a credible aviation safety organization on the island have failed miserably because Cyprus won't hire the necessary technical staff.

"We have lost count of the hours of work, letters, memos and other documents we have produced over the last six years with the aim of helping Cyprus create a credible aviation safety regulatory body," Varley wrote in the 2004 letter. "A European Union funded project in 2001/2002 that cost the European Union 357,963 euros failed completely, mainly due to the inability of the Department to recruit suitable technical staff within an acceptable timescale."

Varley went on to warn that if Cyprus didn't get on the ball... aviation safety levels there would drop to what he called "third world levels."

Now, remember, that letter was written two years ago. What's been done since? Nothing.

That's the word from the Cypriot government itself in a second letter -- which, like the first, was published in the magazine Politis.

When reporters contacted the Cypriot Minister of Communications, Harris Thrassou, he said there were two meetings on aviation safety back in late 2004. He says decisions were made and concrete steps were taken... but what those decisions were and how they were implemented, Thrassou won't talk about it.

As Aero-News reported last August, in the time since Varley wrote his letter a Cypriot airliner went down near Greece, following a total loss of cabin pressure. All 114 passengers onboard the Helios Airlines 737 perished.

FMI: www.caa.co.uk