Olympic to introduce no-smoke policy on Cyprus routes

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of competitor Cyprus Airways, Greece’s national carrier Olympic Airways will operate no-smoking flights on its Larnaca to Athens route.

Olympic already operates a no-smoking policy on domestic routes, reflecting the growing trend for smoke-free air travel in Europe and North America.

From February 15, all flights from Larnaca to Athens and Athens to Larnaca will be non-smoking and all passengers will be informed when making a reservation.

CY launched its own non-smoking flights last month after initial attempts to introduce a ban met with a hostile reaction from cabin crew demanding equal puffing rights enjoyed by pilots.

The smoking ban was supposed to start on a trial basis last November but the unions put a spanner in the works. CY finally got its smoke-free flights to London and Athens off the ground on January 25.

The trial period will end on March 28, when CY will decide whether to make the ban permanent.

The airline says its no-smoking flights have so far been successful and without major incident.

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.