‘Airports were left to the mercy of God’

THOUSANDS of travellers were inconvenienced on Christmas Eve when a malfunction with the runway lights at Larnaca airport stopped dozens of planes from landing or taking off.
Hermes, operators of the airport, said the blackout on the runway was caused by a short—circuit in the lighting system, most likely precipitated by the heavy rainfall in the area.
Technicians went to work at once, but it was not until Friday morning that the repairs were completed and normal service resumed from the Larnaca terminal.
In a statement, the company apologised for the inconvenience. Civil Aviation said there had been plans to install new lighting cables by February next year, as the current cables were about 35 years old.
Thursday night’s incident affected 27 flights – arrivals and departures – 22 of which were rerouted to Paphos airport, three were rescheduled and two cancelled. People waiting in the arrivals lounge were reportedly not immediately informed about the nature of the problem leading to confusion and even more frustration. Meanwhile several buses, scheduled to pick up tourists and take them to hotels in Larnaca, were forced to drive to Paphos.
In all, some 3,000 passengers were affected.
Given the embarrassing nature of the incident, the Transport Minister has ordered an investigation into what went wrong on the night. He has also instructed officials to look into whether the response to the glitch was the appropriate one, and what can be done to avoid similar situations in the future.
Meanwhile DIKO deputy Zacharias Koulias has tabled the matter for discussion at the next meeting of the House Communications Committee. The DIKO MP has blamed Hermes Airports for neglecting the upkeep of its systems.
“The new airport has been left at God’s mercy,” Koulias told newsmen, adding: “Ever since the running of the airport has been given to a private contractor, profit is all that matters, not service.”