Investigation into runway lights failure

THE COMMUNICATIONS Ministry yesterday expressed its displeasure over claims by airports operator Hermes regarding a malfunction of the runway lights on Christmas Eve that shut down the Larnaca airport inconveniencing thousands of travellers.

In paid advertisements published in yesterday’s press, Hermes said it was “sad because in the effort to repair the serious malfunction they were faced with obstacles and other difficulties instead of an offer for help.”

The statement also said the company and its people were disappointed because while they had to work non-stop through the cold night of Christmas Eve they “did not have the necessary cooperation from certain services which were limited only to verbal expression of support.”

In a written statement yesterday, the ministry said it has “expressed its displeasure in writing towards the company” over claims about the responsibilities of other services which are made in the announcements “without substantiation.”

“The ministry has asked the company to submit any information it has concerning the issue,” the statement said.

Communications Minister Nicos Nicolaides has already ordered an investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile daily Politis yesterday said there had been a portable backup system in a warehouse in the old Larnaca airport but it was never used during the blackout.

A source in Hermes told the Cyprus Mail that they were told the portable backup system was not functioning.

The source also denied claims that one of the two runway lighting systems had failed before the blackout and the company left it there without doing anything.

Technicians had been working on the problem but the second system also failed, causing the blackout, before they could fix it, the source said.

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.