MEA Pilots to End their Strike at Midnight on Sunday

Middle East Airlines pilots announced that they will end their strike at midnight on Saturday as the company declared continuing its flights on Sunday afternoon according to the scheduled dates.

The pilots union announced in a press conference on Saturday that their strike “will end at midnight,” the National News Agency reported.

MEA chairman Mohammed el-Hout threatened on Friday that the company would fire pilots if the strike continued, in comments published in al-Mustaqbal daily on Friday.

The union launched the protest after the company administration laid off a veteran 60-year-old pilot, Joseph Ayat, who had been undergoing cancer treatment.

However, MEA said that Ayat had been treated fairly by the company.

MEA pilots were demanding that their sick colleague be given 75 days of full pay and 75 days of half pay, in accordance with Lebanese law.

Soon after the pilots announced ending their strike, the MEA announced that the flights will operate from and to the Rafik Hariri International Airport on Sunday between 2:00 am and 8:30 am Sunday, December 4, 2011 according to the following schedule: London (ME 201/202), Paris (ME 209/210), Geneva (ME 213/214), Paris (211/212), Frankfurt (ME 217/218), and Istanbul (ME 265/266).

The company added that MEA will “resume all flights on Sunday afternoon according to the previously scheduled dates.”