Thousands flood help lines for CY ticket holders

Around 6,700 calls were answered between Friday evening and Saturday noon by Top Kinisis, the travel agency appointed by the government to make arrangements for all passengers left stranded and without flights after the closure of Cyprus Airways, the agency’s CEO Akis Kelepeshis said on Saturday.
All passengers who have a Cyprus Airways ticket can either ask for full reimbursement or an alternative route with a different airline.
A relevant government announcement on Friday urged passengers whose departure dates are up to February 9 to contact the travel agency, while for those travelling after that date, a new announcement will be made.
Communications Minister Marios Demetriades told the Cyprus Mail that up-to-date no problems were recorded concerning the arrival or departure of passengers scheduled to travel with the national carrier.
“The travel agency is pro-active; they call passengers that were bound to travel today and tomorrow, they don’t just wait for them to call,” Demetriades said.
Kelepeshis said that people are also visiting the travel agency’s offices to make arrangements.
“The chartered flights arranged to Moscow and London have departed on time and passengers to and from Greece fly with Aegean Airlines, while some other flights, like towards Paris are arranged either via Athens, Frankfurt, or Vienna,” Kelepeshis said.
He said that people must be patient since the call centre receives thousands of calls and despite the fact that 35 lines are in operation, it is natural that there are delays.
Adamos Aspris, spokesman of Hermes Airports said in an announcement that the majority of passengers with CY tickets that were scheduled to travel on Saturday had already departed with alternative flights.
He said that Hermes is doing their best to assist all travellers and that all changes concerning passengers of CY are available at the company’s website www.hermesairports.com.

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.