Easyjet to fly to Larnaca from Gatwick next year

EasyJet is to start flights to Larnaca next year with fares starting from as little as £30 sterling one-way, the low-cost airline has announced.

The airline, founded by Cypriot tycoon Stelios Hadjiioanou, announced that four new routes would be added in 2009 from London Gatwick.

With Larnaca, the other routes are Dubrovnik, Naples and Santorini.

EasyJet has been flying to Paphos since earlier this year when it took over British Airways subsidiary GB Airways.

In a bold move at a time of cutbacks and recession, the development could be just the boost Cyprus’ tourism industry was hoping for with the projections for the sector looking gloomy for 2009.

David Osborne, easyJet’s regional general manager for the UK, said: “easyJet has grown dramatically at London Gatwick over the last few years, by offering its familiar combination of low-fares with care and convenience. With our summer 2009 flights also now on sale there has never been a better time to make sure you book summer early and save big!”

With these new routes, the number of easyJet destinations from London Gatwick now totals 71. The London Gatwick to Larnaca flights will begin on March 31 2009, according the airline’s website, and will be offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. One-way fares including taxes and charges will be starting from £30.99. Flights to Santorini will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with fares starting from £36.99.

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.