HERE’S a useful tip for those wanting to travel out or into Cyprus this summer.
Avoid Wednesdays and Sundays.
It is a known fact that the island’s two international airports at Larnaca and Paphos hit panic stations on the same two days of the week.
And the biggest question is why can nobody do anything about it?
Only last Wednesday, thousands of people, mostly sunburned tourists, crammed into Larnaca Airport’s departure lounge waiting to board their flights back home.
At arrivals, just a few steps away, hundreds of people were pouring out looking forward to their holiday.
The same could not be said for some locals or regular business travelers waiting for hours simply to get on their plane.
Danish holidaymaker Thomas Staal was on holiday in Larnaca with his wife; he was waiting for his connecting flight to Frankfurt.
He was one of many hundreds of people waiting in a long line to enter the boarding area.
“This is certainly one of the longest and most disorganised queues I have ever seen. I cannot understand why they cannot put some airport officials to set up a proper queue so people like us don’t stand here wandering where to stand and which direction to go.”
Matthew Dibble from Calderdale in West Yorkshire was also annoyed at being stuck in the queue.
“The coach got here at 3pm,” he said before pointing at the check-in gates. “I was standing for over an hour to check in before being told that I had stand in another massive queue just so I can board. Anyone would think that there was a war on and people were trying to flee the country. Maybe when I get on the plane, I could get a drink.”
One of the biggest reasons for the chaotic scenes on those two days is due to the tour operators specifically bringing over their holidaymakers only on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Others blame the airport itself. saying staff there have a duty to handle the increase in traffic. especially if they know that charter flights come flooding in on two days of the week in the summer.
Hermes Airport Marketing Manager Jenny Fernandes told the Sunday Mail that busy scenes on Wednesdays and Sundays were down to two crucial factors.
“It’s a combination of two things really. Apart from the major tour operators arriving on those days, we also have the increased security measures because of the EU.”
She added that major tour operators felt reluctant to change the arrival days of their passengers in case their rival tour operators decide to follow suit.
“Most of the operators have Cyprus basically penciled in for Wednesdays and Sundays while, for example, Tenerife might be on Thursdays and another day.
“The companies have the hotels ready for those days as well as the coaches.”
According to reports from some airport staff, the heightened traffic has not been helped by new passport and security systems recently installed at the two airports.
A broken conveyor belt was also blamed on one of the days.
Whatever the excuse, regular passengers can only hope the new airport will once and for all put the black cloud days of Wednesday and Sunday to bed.
