Georgiades rejects notion air fares rose due to state-carrier’s closure

Cyprus Airways had been mismanaged and bankrupted by others after spending tens of millions in taxpayer money, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said on Friday, rebutting opposition criticism over the perceived high airfares that followed the national carrier’s closure.

Rejecting criticism suggesting the administration was responsible for the high prices, especially to popular destinations like Greece, Georgiades said people have apparently forgotten the high cost of running the airline, which was footed by the taxpayers.

“It is others who mismanaged and bankrupted CY after spending tens of millions in taxpayer money, leading it to the inevitable ending with the decision of the European Commission, which ruled that all this aid granted by governments in previous years were illegal,” Georgiades said.

Monopolies are not the answer in competitive sectors like this one, he added.

The original Cyprus Airways shut down in January 2015 after the European Commission ruled that more than €102m in government support constituted illegal state aid and €66m had to be repaid.

The national carrier could not afford to return the money and operations were suspended.
A year later, Charlie Airlines bought the rights to use the trademark ‘Cyprus Airways’ for €2.04m for the next 10 years.

The minister said the answer was the operation of the market forces and the competition watchdog can examine if the rules are working.

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.