Cyprus Airways (1947) (Larnaca) and its trade unions, PEO and SEK, have reached a compromise which will see half the loss-making carrier's workforce laid off in order to save the airline from closing outright. As part of the government-backed cost cutting drive, 490 staff are to be made redundant, wage cuts will be enforced, and the airline's fleet will be reduced to six aircraft. The deal was struck following reports that negotiations with Lebanon's MEA - Middle East Airlines (ME, Beirut) had collapsed under unclear circumstances. According to Lebanon's Daily Star, part of the blame for the deal's fall-through was attributed to Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, who refused to commit Central Bank funding to MEA's proposed total buyout of Cyprus Airways, claiming it would have "presented too many risks to the country's already fragile monetary and economic climate."