easyJet launches Paphos to Edinburgh flight

EASYJET has increased its connections to and from Cyprus with the launch of a new flight from Paphos to Edinburgh yesterday, which is set to fly twice weekly.

With the addition of the new connection to Edinburgh – set to fly twice weekly – the airline aims to increase the number of new destinations with direct flights, in their Cyprus network.

“Cyprus constitutes an important section of our European network, with great potential to grow. This is confirmed by the company’s journey so far in Cyprus,” said Stefanos Vakirtzis, regional airport operations manager for easyJet.

The new flight will run on Wednesdays and Saturdays with fares starting at €38 one-way.

The airline, which is one of the biggest in Europe and famous for its cheap tickets, began to meet the needs of passengers in Cyprus in 2008, with four routes from Paphos to London Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Bristol and one from Larnaca to London Gatwick. Since then there has been a steady increase in passenger movement to and from Cyprus each year.  Between October 2009 and September 2010, Easyjet flew more than 480,000 passengers to and from both Larnaca and Paphos airport.

Even though at present there is only one route from Larnaca – to London Gatwick – easyJet has no plans to increase the number of routes from Larnaca.

“It is too expensive to have flights from both Paphos and Larnaca,” said Vakirtzis.

Figures which are released on a yearly basis show that there are a greater number of foreign passengers flying to and from Cyprus. The ratio of foreigners to Cypriot passengers is 75 per cent to 25 per cent respectively.

“Our priority is tourists and those coming into the airport,” added Vakirtzis.

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.