FLIGHTS TO the UK will be axed by Cyprus Airways (CY) in favour of destinations in Europe, the airline said yesterday.
Flights from Larnaca to Birmingham will be axed in March in addition to those from Paphos to Heathrow and Birmingham. The airline had been dithering over the decision regarding the Paphos flights.
After initially announcing that CY would stop Paphos-Heathrow flights, the airline seemed to back track, stating that the flight would not be cut for the time being after Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas, Paphos MPs and other officials caused a furore.
The airline had said they would meet with Paphos officials to further discuss the matter and according to the mayor’s office, the airline confirmed that no action would be taken until after the meeting.
“We are still waiting to hear from Cyprus Airways to arrange a meeting to discuss the subject of flights from Paphos. We aren’t aware that anything has changed,” a spokesman said yesterday.
CY’s Michael Constantinou said the airline’s “last flight from Paphos to London Heathrow is on March 21, 2011 and the last flight to Birmingham is on March 26, 2011”.
However Paphos-Stansted flights will be increased to two a week, starting this month.
Within Europe, as of Monday CY will operate five flights a week to Brussels (Monday to Friday) in addition to adding Munich to its schedule.
With Cyprus assuming the EU presidency in 2012, traffic to Brussels is expected to steadily increase over the next two years.
CY spokesman Kyiacos Kyriacou has previously said that the Paphos flights were stopped as “part of a wider raft of measures being taken to prevent the company from incurring further losses”.
But a number of local officials are questioning why other airlines seem able to operate successful flights out of Paphos to UK destinations, even increasing the number of flights in some cases.
EasyJet already flies to four UK destinations from Paphos: London Gatwick, Manchester, Luton and Bristol and Natalie Christofidou of AC Inflights Ltd on behalf of the airline said there would be no reduction of flights this winter. Flights to Edinburgh will start today.
“EasyJet is constantly reviewing its route network, looking for opportunities to expand its services and grow its brand. We are currently increasing our services to and from Paphos, adding Edinburgh to our routes list,” she said.
She added that EasyJet flights operating between Paphos and the UK have always been very popular. During 2009, the airline carried 292,168 passengers between Paphos and the UK, while it estimates that during 2010, 369,741 passengers will be carried.
Meanwhile British Airways ceased its Paphos-Gatwick flight on October 31 but will restart it for the summer period, on June 3 next year.
