MOST OF the scheduled air travel to and from the island was expected to be affected yesterday, as a result of the new eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland that has spewed more ash into airspace over northern Europe.
Only 30 flights were carried out as scheduled, while approximately 57 were affected, said Adamos Aspris, spokesman for Hermes Airports.
“We use the term ‘affected’ because that includes delays and possibly cancellations, but not necessarily the latter. These are the latest figures, because the situation is changing by the hour,” he added.
Aspris said the information was the best available at the time, and again urged travelers to always confirm with the airlines.
Yesterday some 30 flights were set to be carried out to and from Athens, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Zurich, Rome, Bucharest and Middle Eastern destinations.
Meanwhile thirty-five flights to and from Larnaca were expected to be affected, 18 of them arrivals. This included flights to and from Heathrow, Gatwick, Helsinki, Hamburg, Munich, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Oslo, Prague, Frankfurt, Budapest, Amsterdam, Paris and Manchester.”
For Paphos airport, 22 flights were affected, including to and from: Amsterdam, East Midlands, Stansted, Heathrow, Gatwick and Vilnius.
A total of 360 flights to and from Cyprus have been disrupted since the restrictions last Thursday, inconveniencing some 16,000 passengers.
Among the trips cancelled yesterday were Cyprus Airways flights CY326 (Larnaca to London) and CY 333 (London to Larnaca). The national carrier meanwhile held a charter flight to Bordeaux, France. Flight CY1386 was scheduled to take off from Larnaca at 5.45pm. On board the Airbus 330 jet were mostly French nationals, stranded in Cyprus after the travel restrictions. Once in Bordeaux, arrangements would be made for the passengers to continue on to their final destination by road.
Cyprus Airways also announced the cancellation of 14 flights for today although the situation is likely to change if British air space remains open. They are: CY 506 Larnaca – Paphos –Manchester, CY507 Manchester – Paphos – Larnaca; CY466 Larnaca – Birmingham, CY467 Birmingham – Larnaca; CY498 Larnaca – Amsterdam, CY499 Amsterdam Larnaca; CY332 Larnaca – Heathrow, CY327 Heathrow – Larnaca; CY346 Larnaca to Heathrow, CY347 Heathrow to Larnaca; CY362 Larnaca to Stansted, CY363 Stansted to Larnaca; CY386 Larnaca – Paris, CY387 Paris-Larnaca.
The airline did not rule out the possibility of canceling more flights.
