PASSENGER service problems at Paphos at Larnaca airports should be resolved in a matter of days, the House Communication Committee heard yesterday.
Addressing yesterday’s meeting, representatives of private companies Swissport Cyprus Ltd and LGS (Louis, Gold Air and Service Air) Handling said they had only recently taken on the management of passenger service at the two airports and that they would need a few more days to improve their operations.
A number of complaints were made regarding longer than normal delays in the area of baggage claims and baggage handling in general since the companies took over passenger service at Paphos airport on May 22 and Larnaca airport on May 29.
The committee heard both companies were aware of the problems and had already stepped up efforts to have them resolved.
The two companies blamed the hiccups on delays in the arrival of equipment and personnel from abroad. Integrating existing ground service workers who had been employed from other European countries was also taking time, they said.
The two passenger services companies undertook the task from Hermes Airports Ltd in April, with operations starting in May.
Already the companies have started hiring foreign workers, who they are training in their new duties, and have ordered eight passenger staircases for boarding and disembarking planes. Meanwhile, construction works at both airports are continuing, with Paphos airport ready in November and works at Larnaca airport moving according to schedule, the committee heard.
During the meeting, deputies referred to passenger complaints, including their own experiences, regarding huge delays in baggage arrivals, mismanagement in baggage handling, parking problems, a lack of passenger service co-ordination, and foreign workers who spoke no Greek or little English.
Road Transport Department head Alecos Michaelides said every effort was being made to reduce the airport service problems, but that these would only definitively be solved with the operation of the new airports.
The responsibility to overview the existing services belonged to the Civil Aviation Department and to Hermes Airports Ltd, which have the capacity to impose fines and other sanctions on the private companies who had undertaken the passenger service, he said.
A Hermes Airports Ltd representative said that according to a survey involving 2,500 flights, the estimated average arrival time of luggage onto the baggage carousel prior to April 2008 was 18 minutes for the first piece and 32 minutes for the last, compared to 20 minutes and 35 minutes respectively since the private companies had taken over.
