In defence of Larnaca airport

Sir,
I was very surprised to read the article in Tuesday’s edition in which Larnaca Airport was given the thumbs down by British tourists. My wife and I have entered and left Cyprus through this airport on many occasions and we have never felt it to be as bad as the survey your report suggests.

Like many other airports in Mediterranean holiday resorts, the expansion of the market in the last 10 years has left Larnaca struggling to cope, but to say it’s the worlds worst airport is ridiculous. Indeed, it has some very good features. Leaving a hire car there is one of the easiest I know of. You can almost park at the front door. Try that in a lot of other places and see how you get on.

It also has one of the best airport restaurants that we have ever used. The range of food is excellent and the prices are not the usual rip-off applied to ‘captive’ customers. Additionally it is a very pleasant place to sit if you have to wait for a flight. In that regard, people need to member that it is not the airport which governs when a plane arrives but the operator of the aircraft.

So, cheer up folks, it isn’t all bad and if your government does eventually sort out its contractual difficulties – and we have to assume it will – the new buildings at Paphos and Larnaca will hopefully deal with any problems which do exist.

Alan Grant,
Blairgowrie, Scotland.

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.