Thank you for visiting Cyprus, spending money and flying Cyprus Airways

Sir,
What a farewell was given at the departure area of ‘Paphos International Airport’ this morning.

There were only two, yes only two staff members available for the check-in for the Amsterdam flight (CY 498) and London Stansted flight (CY 562) together, for a total of at least 460 passengers. Moreover, one of those staff members was handling the business class check-in, constantly mentioning that she was there for business class only, with the other lady handling the economy class check-in mainly on her own. The result of this unbelievable, very unprofessional and customer unfriendly ‘service’: one and a half hour waiting time for check-in in a very long ‘L’ shaped queue through the whole departure area and consequently the obvious delays for both flights (1 hour and 35 minutes for the Amsterdam flight). People in wheelchairs, families with babies and/or very young children did not receive any better treatment and had to wait all this time in the same queue. What a disgrace!

May I quote part of the ‘Service Commitment Statement’ that Cyprus Airways is proudly mentioning on its website:

“Traditional Cypriot hospitality, Mediterranean spirit, modern business practices and uncompromised customer commitment, are only some of the ingredients that make up an airline, which is proud for its achievements.

Take measures to speed up check-in

Airlines will set reasonable check-in deadlines and in co-ordination with the airports will take appropriate steps to avoid congestion in departure areas and will take measures to speed up check-in to assist passengers to meet their check-in deadlines. These measures could include queue combing.”

May I suggest that Cyprus Airways adds another line to its ‘Service Commitment Statement’ namely: Please realise that the moment we have taken your money, we will refrain from any service whatsoever!

At least we would all know what to expect. Flying Cyprus Airways again? No way!

Cyprus Airways, you should be ashamed of yourself and also, better change the name of ‘Paphos International Airport’ into ‘Paphos Banana Airport’

S.L. Gits
Nieuw-Vennep, The Netherlands

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.