ONE HUNDRED and sixty mostly Bulgarian passengers finally boarded a plane home just after midday yesterday after spending the entire morning hanging around Larnaca airport, waiting for a flight they were not sure would materialise and with no clear explanation of what had actually happened.
“I’m just glad to be going home. I don’t think anyone is happy about what happened this morning, but we all just want to get home,” a 20-year-old passenger told the Cyprus Mail, as she and her friend headed for the departure lounge, boarding cards in hand.
The young woman was just one of many passengers booked on yesterday’s 9.10am ajet flight to Sofia which was cancelled following a government order banning the aircraft’s take off. The passengers were finally flown out on a Eurocypria plane arranged by Over Sun Aviation travel agency at 12.25pm.
Despite the evident relief etched across the travellers’ faces that they were finally leaving, their frustration at not being given a solid departure time was fixed. Initial reports had been that their flight would not leave until late in the afternoon.
Visitor Gergana, 25, and her boyfriend Kalin, were two such irritated passengers.
“We came here at around 7am and there was no one here to tell us anything,” she said. “We just saw the other passengers and they’re the ones who told us that the flight had been cancelled.”
The 25-year-old said she was angry and sad and really had nothing else to say, other than the situation was “ridiculous”.
Her 23-year-old boyfriend said that around 9am they had been told the flight had been rescheduled for midday but that they had received no other information since then.
A passenger walking by drinking a cup of coffee and eating a doughnut stopped and told the couple that his snack had been provided by ajet and was available to all passengers at the airport’s first floor arrivals area cafeteria.
Other passengers also thought the airline was responsible for the refreshment, it later emerged that Over Sun Aviation had arranged and covered the costs of the drink and snack as well.
“Nobody told us about food or drink. We were sitting here, so they obviously just told them,” Kalin said, pointing to another group of travellers huddled in a corner with their hot drinks.
“I don’t want anything from them. I just want to go home,” a clearly fed up Gergana added.
Dozens of passengers milled around waiting for news of their flight, with no one available to provide an update of what was going on. Some travellers laughed and joked in groups, while others stared fixedly at the departure screen in case anything changed. In the background, construction workers’ incessant drilling could be heard from outside as airport works continued oblivious to the commotion inside.
A few people went outside for a smoke to pass the time and, as they said, to calm their nerves.
Vladi, 20, who had set off from Paphos before 6am to make his flight, was also put out and said the bun and drink he’d been given did little to appease his frustration.
“I rang my parents and can’t even tell them for sure what time to set off for the airport – which is two hours away from my home – because I don’t even know if I’m leaving yet,” he said.
The young man said he had called the airline on Wednesday afternoon to confirm the flight and that he had been told it was going ahead and to be at the airport just after 7am.
“When I got here, nobody knew anything. I’ve looked up at the screen and there’s a flight for Sofia at 12pm but I’m not 100 per cent sure it’s for us. I’ve just been told to wait, so that is what I’m doing.”
He added: “This company is terrible. A year ago they had an air crash and then a month ago another company took over this company and now yesterday it finished…
“My friend called Sofia airport and they said there would be a flight but that they didn’t know what time and that if there was a problem they would send one of their own planes to get us… We keep hearing maybe. Maybe there will be a plane. Maybe it will be at 12. They just say maybe.”
Vania Nikolova, 46, and Mariella Theodoridou, 26, also did not know why the flight had been cancelled.
Like Vladi, Theodoridou rang the airline on Wednesday afternoon and was told the flight was scheduled for take off at 9.10am as planned.
“We came here at 8am and went over to the information desk because the flight was not up on the screen to ask what was going on and we were told they didn’t know what was happening,” Theodoridou said.
The younger woman said her employer, who had accompanied the two women to the airport, rang the airline and was told an ajet representative would be making an announcement shortly. When the representative made no appearance, Theodoridou said she went to find her.
“She was standing over there and told us we’d be taking off at 12 noon and then said we could have a coffee and cake in the meantime,” the 26-year-old said, not knowing the woman she had spoken to was in fact an Over Sun Aviation representative and not from ajet.
Only Nikolova seemed content to read her paper and wait for the announcement to check in.
“I’m calm and I’m waiting… The only thing is: do you know why the flight was cancelled? No one has told us anything and we heard something about the company closing,” she said.
The news that a ban had been issued in light of the airline’s surprise Wednesday announcement that it was terminating all operations immediately and not in three months as originally planned came as surprise to the two women.
As for state claims that it was still owed £2 million by the airline – formerly known as Helios – and that grounding the plane was necessary as it acted as collateral until ajet settled its debts, that meant nothing to the pair who just wanted to go home and couldn’t understand why they hadn’t been told in advance that the flight had been cancelled.
At 10.30am everyone suddenly got up and started heading for the check-in counters. No formal announcement had been issued, but the word quickly spread from passenger to passenger that it was time for check in.
Over Sun Aviation representatives told the Mail it had arranged the flight back to the Bulgarian capital.
“We couldn’t just leave them stranded,” Over Sun director Ionka Veresie said.
“They booked their flight with us and so we arranged to get them home.”
She said the travel agency had also undertaken to charter another flight to bring over 120 passengers, 68 of whom were attending a conference in Larnaca this week, this afternoon.
She also said she had no gripes with ajet and Eurocypria, who had worked tirelessly to help facilitate the change in travel arrangements.
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