THE first flight by low cost airline Ryanair from Brussels to Larnaca Airport took place yesterday, bringing 180 passengers to Cyprus
Ryanair will now fly two weekly flights to Brussels on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and are due to begin flying between Cyprus and Barcelona on December 4.
Airport authorities organised a special ceremony to mark the event, with airport officials giving out a slice of a large cake, depicting Cyprus in the colours of Ryanair.
Sales and Advertising for Ryanair in Cyprus, Melissa Corrigan, welcomed the new route at a launch ceremony yesterday.
“We are delighted to inaugurate our first route from Larnaca, and bring really low fares to Cyprus for the first time. Ryanair will continue to grow as other airlines pull routes and reduce capacity whilst incurring significant losses,” she said.
“With passengers becoming increasingly price sensitive, Cypriot consumers and visitors can now take advantage of Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel surcharges.”
She said that Ryanair’s Cyprus routes are expected to deliver 60,000 passengers annually and sustain 60 local jobs.
Hermes Airports Executive Director, Alfred van der Meer said “This (new route) will create a lot of opportunities, not only for tourists to visit Cyprus, which is very important, but also it gives the opportunity for Cypriots to travel more, to visit their children studying in European countries or to visit other European countries.”
He said that he was very pleased with the cooperation of both the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and other government departments that have helped to establish the route, which will be a great benefit to Cyprus.
Asked about the forthcoming opening of the Barcelona route, van der Meer said “I am confident that the new destination to Barcelona will be highly appreciated and embraced by the travelling public at both ends of the new route.”
He added “The introduction of new destinations bringing additional traffic to Cyprus should spark the interest of other airlines to join Hermes Airports’ Incentive Scheme.”
The Irish airline is one of the three largest in Europe, with 161 destinations in 160 airports in 27 European countries. They have 254 Boeing 737-800 type aircraft in their three year old fleet.
Ryanair celebrated its first route from Cyprus by releasing one million €6 seats for travel across its European network in December and January which are available for booking on www.ryanair.com until midnight tonight.
