New airport costs CY an extra €4 million

THE OPERATION of the new Larnaca Airport will cost national carrier Cyprus Airways (CY) an extra four million euros a year in extra costs, said CY spokesman Kyriacos Kyriacou yesterday.

Kyriacou said with the operation of the new airport, which opened its doors on Tuesday, CY will incur “an additional four million euro, which for us is huge”. This was “a dramatic increase in costs”, he added.

CY was the airport’s biggest user, he said, noting that the cost incurred was “heavy, particularly given the economic crisis the island is currently going through”.

He called on the airport’s operator, Hermes Airports, to restrain its pricing policy so that Cyprus could achieve its goal to become a regional hub for air travel, rather than let its charges become a further deterrent.

The call echoes sentiments expressed by operations manager at the International Air Carriers Association (IACA), Luc Green, who described the opening of the new airport as “bittersweet”, since it would make “Larnaca one of the most expensive airports in Europe to fly to”.

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.