State unhappy with French plane reasoning

EXPLANATIONS from Britain as to why a plane carrying French officers as guests of Cyprus was told to land in Akrotiri instead of Larnaca airport do not satisfy the government, it said yesterday.

During his daily briefing government spokesman Vassilis Palmas said the plane had left from Larnaca yesterday “as planned in the same way as it was planned that it would land there when it arrived, which did not happen”.

The British military C130 aircraft carrying the French officers, who were guests of the Cypriot Defence Ministry, was directed to Akrotiri on its flight over from Amman in Jordan on Tuesday.
The move angered the government, which protested to Britain and also spoke to the French embassy. Technical reasons were cited but the government asked for clarifications.
“The only thing I can say, and I will not enter into other details, is that we are not satisfied by the explanations,” Palmas said.

“When it comes to visits to Cypriot territory, respect should be shown to the Cyprus Republic. The airport for the landing of planes in the Cyprus Republic is Larnaca International Airport.”
The British bases are believed to have said it had not been possible to change the flight path of the aircraft, given the time constraints of the flight from Amman to Larnaca.
The French embassy in Nicosia reportedly told the Foreign Ministry that they had been notified about the arrival of the French delegation at Akrotiri 15 minutes after take off.

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.