Half a century in the air

By Andrew Adamides

FIVE thousand people last night filled Nicosia’s Eleftheria Stadium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cyprus Airways.

The gathering was addressed by President Glafcos Clerides, who congratulated the national carrier, hailing its 50th anniversary as a “landmark”. Noting the hardships imposed on the airline by the colonial rule under which it had been formed, Clerides paid particular tribute to the way it had managed to reform after the devastation of the Turkish invasion and it’s subsequent evolution into “a prestigious airline”.

He said Cyprus Airways aircraft served as “ambassadors of Cyprus, projecting and promoting our statehood abroad” and through this had set up “numerous communication links with many countries” worldwide. These, he said, were “indispensable” to Cyprus’ progress, adding that the national carrier’s contribution to the tourist industry, which he called “the driving force” of Cyprus’ economy, was of “decisive importance”.

On a more serious note, however, he added that it was “high time” to plan and implement measures enabling Cyprus Airways to compete effectively with other carriers in order to “face the challenges of the 21st century.”

Earlier this year, the Cyprus Airways group announced 1996 pre-tax loss of £5.2 million and a drop in revenue of almost two per cent after passenger numbers dropped by 14,282. The airline holds a 29.2 per cent share in the traffic market to and from Cyprus.

In his speech to the gathering, Cyprus Airways President Takis Kyriakides mentioned the strategic plan drawn up earlier this year to combat the company’s financial position, saying this would “decisively solve” the airline’s problems. The road ahead, he said, was hard but he felt sure the airline would navigate it, adding that by the year 2000, Cyprus Airways would be a “modern, dynamic, flexible, profit-making airline in a position to offer services of the highest possible standard and lowest price, making every Cypriot proud, and securing another fifty years in the air.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.