EgyptAir pilots started a slowdown on Thursday to protest for a raise in their salaries.
According to passengers, there have been significant delays in flights, including eight flights that were delayed on Saturday as a result of the slowdown.
A pilot, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Daily News Egypt that the pilots’s slowdown is not a strike. A slowdown means that they will not officially refrain from work, but will give legal excuses like sick leave and urgent vacations to avoid any legal accountability.
“The salaries in EgyptAir, compared to other private and international companies, are very low. Unlike what is being said on the media, these salaries are not as high as what people think,” the source explained, adding that the pilots are using the slowdown in order to raise their salaries.
The continuous rise of the US dollar has also caused the value of the pilots’ salaries to drop, as they are paid in Egyptian pounds.
The pilot told Daily News Egypt that Egypt has around 1,200 unemployed pilots, so exchanging the current pilots in EgyptAir with other pilots will not be a problem for the company. He also added that any raise in income goes to the holding company, so the raise that happens in the salaries of the pilots is insignificant.
Daily News Egypt tried to reach out to a source in EgyptAir to further understand the demands of the pilots, but no one was available for comment.
This is not an unprecedented incident at EgyptAir. In May 2015, around 224 pilots resigned in protest of low salaries. Also, major protests happened in June 2013 that led to the delay of around 20 flights.
