Hellas Jet to close down on May 10

CYPRUS Airways (CY) yesterday announced that its failed Athens-based subsidiary Hellas Jet would cease operations on May 10.

From its inception in June 2003 until now, Hellas Jet has cost the national carrier at least £50 million pounds in creation and closure expenses and monthly losses.

The airline was set up from scratch to tap into the European market using Athens as a base, and to kick off in time for the Olympic Games last year.
An announcement to the stock exchange yesterday said that at an extraordinary general meeting held on Wednesday in Athens, Hellas Jet, had decided to suspend its scheduled flights from May 10

“This decision was deemed necessary since the market conditions are not favourable for the enforcement of its business plans,” the statement said.
Passengers who have purchased tickets to travel before the end of May with Hellas Jet have been accommodated on other airlines. Those due to travel with the airline after June 1 will be given refunds, according to a CY spokesman.

The decision to close Hellas Jet was taken after two offers to buy the company were rejected as unsuitable. Its closure had been discussed as part of a package of measures to rescue the national carrier, which lost nearly £37 million last year.

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.