easyJet to take over Paphos routes

By Easyjet will be operating flights from Gatwick and Manchester to Paphos after March 31 as part of its takeover of GB Airways, the low-cost carrier has said.

In an announcement on New Year’s Day, easyJet said that 32 routes operated by GB Airways for summer 2008 were now available for sale at www.easyJet.com. These include flights Sharm El Sheikh, the Canary Islands, Corfu, the Greek Islands, Turkey and Cyprus.

In October 2007, easyJet announced its intention to buy the Gatwick-based GB airways, which operated as a British Airways franchise.

The deal is expected to complete this month.

“However, BA has now terminated all sales for flights from March 30, 2008 onwards,” easyJet said.

“In order to continue to provide competition and choice for customers, easyJet has entered into a code-share agreement and can offer the GB Airways routes through easyJet.com,” it added.

In total, easyJet will now offer a choice of 66 routes from Gatwick and a further six from Manchester. The GB Airways Heathrow operation is expected to terminate at the end of March.

After this, subject to regulatory approval, the GB flights will operate under the easyJet brand and all customers who have booked to travel with GB Airways next summer will be given the choice of flying with easyJet at the same times or else receive a refund.

“By winter 2008, GB Airways will be fully integrated into the easyJet business model subject to regulatory clearance,” easyJet said.

Last October, easyJet said that flights to Cyprus would not be a given under the GB deal, and that no decision would be taken until March.

However, the list of new destinations includes two new flights to Paphos for summer 2008.

Until now, easyJet had avoided flights to Cyprus, despite the Cypriot origins of the airline’s founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Low-cost carriers have always been difficult to attract due to the distance from the UK, as they usually operate within a three-hour time frame and Cyprus is some four and a half hours flying time from Britain.

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.