Palestinian airlines plan twice-weekly flight to Cyprus

PALESTINIAN Airlines plans to renegotiate with Cyprus to obtain a licence to operate two flights a week to the island from the newly-opened airport at Gaza.

Gaza International Airport was inaugurated on Tuesday by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the first aircraft to land was an EgyptAir A320 Airbus, followed a few minutes later by a Royal Air Moroc Boeing 737.

A representative of the Palestinian Authority in Cyprus said yesterday their national carrier had been granted a licence to fly to Cyprus early this year for a six-month trial period.

However, with delays to the opening of the Gaza airport, the licence had expired and would now have to be renewed, Palestinian representative Fayaz Younes told the Cyprus Mail.

He said the licence was for two flights a week to Larnaca.

“Now we need to resume contacts,” he said, adding that there would probably have to be some kind of agreement with Cyprus Airways as well.

A Cyprus Airways spokesman said the airline had not discussed the possibility of flights between Larnaca and Gaza. A civil aviation official also said they had not been approached.

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.