THERE was a glimmer of hope on the horizon for Paphos ailing air industry yesterday when Monarch airlines announced a number of new routes to the UK.
Monarch said it would be launching a new service connecting Paphos with the UK as of May 4.
The airline will operate flights between Paphos, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham. This will be every Wednesday and Sunday, it said.
The news comes days after Cyprus Airways (CY) announced it was cutting a series of flights from Paphos to the UK and to Greece. British Airways also said late last year it would be cutting its Paphos-Heathrow routes as of April this year. Paphos airport also lost out with the bankruptcy of Eurocypria.
So desperate was the situation last week that Paphos officials and business bosses got together to discuss the possibility of buying its own airline.
SEKO -the association of political parties and private organisations met on Saturday to discuss the developments with CY announcement and members decided to lobby the Cyprus president for his support.
The mayors of the four Paphos districts, four local MPs, the president of the hoteliers association and the president of EVE- the Paphos chamber of commerce- all in attended the meeting.
The committee decided to concentrate on pressuring national carrier over its stance towards Paphos. It also decided to leave the possibility of the setting up of a private airline to service Paphos to private companies and interested individuals.
SEKO members have also requested that CY produce evidence to back up its decision to suspend the Paphos flights. The airline cited economic reasons for the cuts, saying that operating them was not financially viable.
The Paphos MPs will discuss the subject at a meeting of the parliamentary committee of transport and works, they said.
Local councillor Polis Polydorou said if the state continued to ‘ turn a blind eye’ Paphos should react dynamically and called on residents not to pay their taxes.
The local councillor said Paphos “has not been given what it deserves or what in fact should have been given to the district.”
He said when there was an economic boom, Paphos contributed “a good few million” to state coffers, much more than the state had ever given Paphos.
George Leptos the president Paphos chamber of commerce, EVE, said they wanted the government to find immediate ways to support tourism in Paphos.
Leptos said Paphos had always has been the traditional choice “as the place to holiday by more than 30 per cent of all tourists visiting Cyprus.”
The EVE president said he believed it was up to the state, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, and airport operator Hermes, to come up with a solution.
