Lack of flights the problem

Sir,
I write with reference to the article in Friday’s Cyprus Mail (‘Hoteliers disappointed at prospects from UK and Germany’).  

When will the hoteliers and Cyprus Airways realise it is not the accommodation offered that is at fault, but the lack of flight availability. I refer, in particular, to flights from the UK.

As soon as they realise that not everyone lives in London, then maybe the tourist market from the UK will increase. 

For example, we live in the Midlands, 26 miles south of Birmingham Airport. What are we offered by way of flights? The worst possible time to travel – midnight, arriving at 5am. How many times a week? Once, twice, if we are lucky. And what aircraft? The old A320.

To ensure I get the flights we require, I have to book six months in advance, otherwise, I would stand no chance of getting seats at popular times, such as Easter and Christmas.

Why should we have the inconvenience of travelling to Heathrow (a three-hour journey by car) so we can travel Business Class when our journey to Birmingham takes just 25 minutes? Because Business Class is not available from Birmingham that’s why!

Friends of ours who live in the north of England have the exactly the same problems when travelling from Manchester.

Why do Cyprus Airways operate flights to all these different countries every single day of the week and are lucky to get the plane a quarter full?

The powers that be need to sit down and take a serious look at where the demand is for their flights; offer flights more than once or twice a week from Birmingham and Manchester; offer Business Class from Birmingham and Manchester, and last, but not least, flights that leave at a reasonable time of the day (not night!).

Jan Thompson
Ayios Tychonas, Limassol

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.