The Russian embassy in Nicosia was doing its best within its powers to help resolve a problem created after Russian authorities banned Cyprus Airways from carrying passengers to Moscow.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Russian embassy said it was monitoring the situation and taking steps within its competencies to resolve it.

“We contacted Moscow and tried to do our best in cooperation with the Russian authorities to resolve this problem as soon as possible,” an embassy spokesman told the Cyprus News Agency later.

The spokesman said the issue was being handled by the country’s civil aviation authority, adding that they were informed of the matter on Monday and they conveyed the transport minister’s position to Moscow and were expecting its response.

Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos said Monday the government will do whatever necessary to resolve the issue.

Cyprus’ department of civil aviation had contacted its Russian counterpart to clarify the issue as there are agreements between the two countries, he said.

According to the minister, it appeared that the decision was taken as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“However, we have asked our civil aviation to clarify this move since with this decision, Russian citizens will also not be able to travel from Cyprus to their country.”

Cyprus Airways on Thursday announced it had added routes to Moscow and St. Petersburg to its network for this winter after the Russian authorities gave the green light.

The company said earlier this week it could not operate its planned new weekly flight schedule from Larnaca to Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, which was scheduled to start at the end of November after Russian authorities placed restrictions on the airline.

On Thursday, it said the obstacles had been overcome.

“We are extremely happy that we managed to overcome the obstacles we recently faced with the Russian authorities for the operation of our flights to Moscow,” Chief Operations Officer of Cyprus Airways, George Mavrocostas said.

Following this development, Cyprus Airways said it will operate flights to Moscow Domodedovo Airport once a week until January 15, 2021 while flights to St. Petersburg will commence on January 21.

Mavrocostas said they were forced to publicly raise this issue after the bad experience last month of some of their  passengers since the airline had to inform them at the airport that they could not fly to Moscow due to the refusal of the Russian authorities to allow the airline in.

Earlier in the week, he said the company was discriminated against by Russian authorities since they had “arbitrarily” limited or completely prohibited Cyprus Airways to carry passengers to the Russian Federation. He had said that two Russian air carriers recently started operations on the route Moscow-Larnaca-Moscow without having similar restrictions imposed by the Russian authorities.

Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos and the Russian embassy in Nicosia had said they were working to resolve the problem.

Karousos had said it appeared that the decision was taken as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus but this also meant that Russian citizens would not be able to travel from Cyprus to their country.

Mavrokostas on Thursday thanked Karousos, the Civil Aviation Department, Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides, Russian Ambassador to Cyprus Stanislav Osadchiy and the Federal Agency for Air Transport for all their efforts.

Cyprus Airways will launch direct flights from Larnaca and Malta on June 27 it announced on Tuesday, increasing the airline’s international destinations to 14.

Flights to Malta will be twice weekly; on Wednesdays and Sundays until October.

Other destinations Cyprus Airways flies to are Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Skiathos and Preveza in Greece, Rome, Verona, Prague, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Odesa, Tel Aviv and Beirut.

Chief Operations Officer of Cyprus Airways George Mavrocostas said the new addition will help boost tourism.

“The strategic development of our network to include Malta allows us to welcome a destination our Cypriot customers want to visit, and to contribute with concrete actions to the tourism recovery in Cyprus,” he said.

Additional summer routes are set to be announced at a later stage.

According to the announcement, the airline “is appreciative of the international effort to make travel easier, coordinated, and safe with initiatives like the digital green certificate that would allow EU citizens who have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from Covid-19 to travel more freely within the EU.”

Earlier this year, Cyprus Airways announced a zero-penalty fee for flight changes on basic fare tickets, allowing passengers to rebook their flight up to 14 days before their booked ticket.

National flag-carrier Cyprus Airways said on Monday it has opened bookings for a new route linking Larnaca with London.

The new route will fly between Larnaca airport and London Heathrow, and flights are scheduled to commence from September 10.

The airline offers competitive fares for the popular destination, with a limited time offer for bookings made until September 15.

Passengers who book basic fare tickets can add a 10kg checked piece of luggage to their booking for half the price.

In addition, there is a zero-penalty fee for flight changes on basic fare tickets.

Cyprus Airways plans to maintain the route year-round, moving away from the seasonal schedule it has tended to keep in recent years.

Cypriot airline Cyprus Airways announced on Wednesday that it has commenced ticket sales for its winter destinations for this year.

The Larnaca-based airline will operate flights to Greece, the United Kingdom, Russia, Lebanon, and Israel this winter.

Flights to the UK will begin on February 1, with the airline travelling to Heathrow three times a week.

The flights, which will depart in the morning, will take place every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

In terms of the flights to Greece, Cyprus Airways will resume its flights to Athens on December 15 with three flights per week. The flights will take place every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Moreover, there will be flights to Heraklion in Crete, which will take place every Wednesday and Saturday throughout the winter season.

Flights to Moscow, Russia will depart every Monday and Thursday, while flights to Beirut, Lebanon will commence on December 18. Regarding the latter, flights will take place three times a week.

Flights to Israel will begin on January 10, with the airline flying to Tel Avi twice a week.

Cyprus Airways was recently acquired by the SJC Group, a Maltese group of companies with operations across Africa and the Middle East, incorporating a number of different activities including helicopter commercial flight operations and maintenance from dedicated hangars within Malta International Airport.

The SJC Group maintains a fleet of private aircraft to provide emergency services in remote parts of the world.

The company is also a major provider of fire, safety and security services in Malta.

“We are delighted to resume our flights to Athens, Beirut and Tel Aviv,” Cyprus Airways CEO Simon Camilleri said.

“We continually monitor our route network, and we believe that our winter destinations will be a popular choice for local travellers, while at the same time contribute to increasing of tourists visiting Cyprus,” he added.

Nicholas Karides looks at a new  intricately constructed account of a Cyprus Airways crash in the 60s

As if the collective Cypriot mind didn’t have enough trouble distinguishing myth from historical reality, along comes Andreas Hadjikyriacos with an intricately constructed story based on historical events to short-circuit the excitable conspiracy-prone Cypriot psyche.

For optimists, the publication of fact-based historical fiction in a country that still struggles with its recent past might be construed as some kind of progress. More so at a time when almost everywhere else, even in countries grounded in sound readings of their history, fact-based fiction is increasingly being served as truth.

Hadjikyriacos’ teasing novel Flight CY284 focuses on the Cyprus Airways flight that crashed into the Mediterranean near the island of Rhodes on October 12, 1967 with the loss of all 66 passengers and crew. It was at the time the worst aviation disaster in Cypriot history.

The De Havilland DH-106 Comet 4, operated by British European Airways, took off from London Heathrow as BE284 bound for Nicosia via Athens where it was designated as CY284. Building on Simon Hepworth’s diligent research on the crash and the results of the investigation that followed, Hadjikyriacos uses the prevailing but never proven hypothesis as his narrative decoy: that CY284 came down as part of an attempt to assassinate General Georgios Grivas who had been expected to be on board.

The anti-colonial leader, who played an insidious role in post-independence Cypriot politics, had reportedly booked a seat on the flight but was a no-show. Hadjikyriacos allows the reader to hover between this deeply embedded perception and the cover-up counter narrative: that the British authorities had conveniently advanced the assassination line to deflect attention from the mechanical problems Comet 4s were experiencing at the time.

Hadjikyriacos’ own improbable but not entirely impossible fantasy begins in Nicosia four years ago and blends real people whose identities he obscures and key political figures from Greece and Cyprus. His main character, reporter Stratis Leondaritis, who one suspects is Hadjikyriacos’ alter ego, is prompted to dig deeper into the CY284 saga following a freak discovery connecting an unknown-to-him family event with a passenger on the fateful Comet. The reporter turns to his mentor Iasonas Spanides, a veteran journalist in Athens and once press officer at the Greek royal palace, for guidance and clues.

Pre-Google investigative journalism and yellowed diary entries combine with bruised civil servant egos and shadowy secret service operatives to take the reader into the darkness of the 1967 Athens junta and the tensions between the Greek generals and Archbishop Makarios. The story heats up with the Archbishop’s alleged close relationship with the Queen Mother, Frederica of Hanover, the devious mother of King Constantine, and their discussions about an urgent mystery shipment to Cyprus.

It will not come as a surprise to those who know Hadjikyriacos (full disclosure: this writer among them) that he has produced a masterful plot combining his love of politics and historical detail with his astute journalistic writing. The story holds because he skillfully supports his figments as if he were corroborating the validity of factual reporting.

At his peak, he was the most well-informed and dispassionate political reporter at a time when it was rare for journalists in Cyprus to write with non-patriotic clarity. Having always had access to the political establishment he had to soak up many versions of the same stories. Finding their inconsistencies had been his bread and butter. This book does in fact feel like an homage to the journalism of old, the journalism he abandoned for communication consulting.

Had he stayed in the frustrating world of reporting perhaps instead of expertly fictionalising what is ultimately an engrossing story, one for which his publishers would be well advised to consider an English translation, he may have helped resolve the great mystery and delivered an explosive exclusive.

The Scotland Yard and UK Home Office files on CY284 will, however, remain suspiciously out of the public domain until 2066. The official line was that there wasn’t enough evidence to charge anyone. Hepworth’s 2018 book offered a comprehensive account of the flight, the recovery operation and the investigation and even led to a belated commemorative plaque placed at Heathrow to honour the 66 victims. But clearly there’s more.

Hadjikyriacos spins his project along the famous quip by former US National Coordinator for Security and Counter-Terrorism Richard A Clarke: “Sometimes you can tell more truth through fiction.” Probably. The reality of course is that outright lies and pure fiction are far easier to deal with than non-truths that are interspersed with facts and which then infiltrate our news stream and national narratives.

But that is, as they say, another story. This book is expertly spun and certainly challenges Cypriots’ perceptions of their history. It also takes digs at the worshiping of their not-so-great political legends, the country’s offshore money-making sins and even its lingering gender stereotypes. In its most meaningful part, in a short afterword entitled Post-Factum, Hadjikyriacos the journalist overrules Hadjikyriacos the novelist and goes on to explain to readers what the facts actually reveal and what they hide. Once a journalist always a journalist.

Larnaca’s most popular spot for tourists is the Phinikoudes promenade, followed by the Salt Lake and Mackenzie beach, a Facebook poll carried out by Larnaca Tourism Board and Cyprus Airways showed on Tuesday.

The poll, which ran from June 15 to 30, was part of an online competition awarding the prize of five airline tickets, marking Cyprus Airways’ five years of operation at Larnaca airport.

The winners, picked randomly in a draw, were Christina Jensen Bech from Denmark and Eleni Panayiotou from Cyprus, who each won two Cyprus Airways tickets to the destination of their choice, and Kakia Tsiola from Cyprus, who won one Cyprus Airways ticket to the destination of her choice.

Other popular spots indicated by the poll’s participants were the old city streets, the Kamares aqueduct, Saint Lazarus Church and square, the Medieval fort and Piale Pasha.

Cyprus Airways on Friday announced 28 weekly flights to key destinations as part of its winter flight schedules, due to start on October 30.

There will be two daily flights to Athens, six weekly flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, and two weekly flights to Yerevan.

Cyprus Airways resumed operations in 2016. The company operates a fleet of Airbus A319 and two Airbus A320 aircraft, currently flying to the seven destinations of Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Beirut, Tel Aviv, Yerevan and Rhodes.

Cyprus Airways CEO Paul Sies said the winter programme demonstrates Cyprus Airways’ strong commitment to the island’s connectivity, the local economy and tourism.

More information on this winter’s flight schedule is available on the company’s website www.cyprusairways.com, from the company’s offices or from any travel agent.

Larnaca-based Cyprus Airways on Tuesday announced it will more than double its capacity and destinations next summer, showing strong commitment to the island’s connectivity, local economy and tourism industry.

The airline will operate flights to 11 confirmed destinations with at least 43 weekly flights with new destinations and flights to be announced soon.

Flights to Athens will continue with a double daily return flight, while flights to Tel Aviv will depart daily. Furthermore, there will be five routes per week to and from Beirut, while flights to Cairo and Yerevan will operate twice a week.

Cyprus Airways also plans to include twice-weekly flights to Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Skiathos, Santorini and Preveza, and three times per week to Heraklion.

“After a very busy summer and a positive booking demand for this winter, we are planning well ahead to meet the expected high demand for the summer of 2023,” said Cyprus Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer Madonna Hoyek.

At least five new destinations will be added in the summer routes according to Cyprus Airways CEO Paul Sies, as a result of the close collaboration with local and international stakeholders, the deputy ministry of tourism and Hermes.

He further expressed the company’s determination to work with like-minded stakeholders interested in helping and developing tourism and the island’s economy by facilitating connectivity through travel. “No airline operating to/from Cyprus offers the same commitment to the island as Cyprus Airways,” said Sies.

Cyprus Airways saw a 169 per cent increase in flights during October compared to the same period last year, the company announced on Wednesday.

In total, the airline carried out 310 flights with 36,991 passengers, marking a 391 per cent increase since October last year.

Cyprus Airways CEO Paul Sies said the figures are better than those of September, which is traditionally a more popular month than October. There was six per cent more passengers in October than September, with 34,868 passengers and 310 flights.

“We have just started our winter flights offering 28 weekly return flights, which will increase in mid-December when we add three weekly flights to Paris Charles De Gaulle and two weekly flights to Rome Fiumicino. Additionally, this winter we are flying to Athens with a double daily flight, while Tel Aviv and Beirut are served six times a week.”

Sies added the company is “expanding its activity to Yerevan twice a week” and noted the airline is “recording satisfactory pre-bookings, expecting a good winter” he said.

The CEO said the airline this year expanded its sales distribution network for travel agents in Sweden, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and the UK to sell flights through the IATA BSP systems. “We are still working together through the APG ticketing network to enable the sale of tickets in other countries.”

Cyprus Airways held a press conference on Wednesday in which it presented its strategic plan for the coming five years, with CEO Paul Sies recapping the airline’s achievements and how it managed to survive during a difficult period for air transport.

The event, which was titled ‘Cyprus Airways – The present and the future’, took place at the Constantinos Leventis amphitheatre in Nicosia, with Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios in attendance, alongside Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos, and Hermes Airports CEO Eleni Kalogerou.

During the press conference, Sies stressed how much the airline has accomplished over the past two years, explaining that it had to face unprecedented challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as geopolitical disruptions on the international level.

Despite this, Sies said, the airline stuck to its commitment to support the island with the necessary level of air connectivity, including for repatriation flights and other essential services, including postal and freight connectivity, among others.

During 2022, Cyprus Airways embarked on a path of recovery, reviewing and improving its routes, pricing and distribution channels. In terms of new routes, the airline recently added Paris and Rome, while it has also boosted its capacity for the winter period, invested in new aircraft, while it has also proceeded with plans to hire additional members of staff.

According to the company, the airline’s new strategic plan “will see the operation of a hybrid business model, which will offer its customers a low-cost base, but also enable them to shape their own travel experience, upgrading their services according to their needs”.

“To deliver such a scaling-up of its services, the airline has embarked on a digital transformation process to maximise its ancillary revenue, ensuring that its customers always get the best value for money,” the company added.

Moreover, the distribution of the company’s sales network has also been enhanced, not only with API connectivity to multiple partners but also with better legacy GDS connectivity to ensure that Cyprus Airways seats are easily viewable, priced and ticketed globally.

Next year Cyprus Airways will operate with four Airbus A320ceo aircraft with a view to transitioning to the Airbus A320neo by 2025.

There are plans to increase the fleet to six aircraft in 2024, nine aircraft in 2025 and up to 11 aircraft by 2026.

Part of this fleet will be used for aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) operations and charter services, which will enable stable revenue streams and other financial contributions to the airline.

What is more, following the recent launch of routes to Paris and Rome, Cyprus Airways intends to continue to expand its European network and further develop tourism and business traffic between points, while increasing connectivity to Cypriot nationals.

The airline also intends to offer a network of year-round core scheduled routes connecting the island with major cities within a 1.5-hour radius.

This will allow Cyprus Airways to offer in-network connectivity to and from Athens, Beirut and Tel Aviv, while also serving the main European cities and seasonal routes to various Greek islands.

In addition, the airline plans to operate in 18 destinations next year and up to 30 destinations by 2026.

“Today we are excited to announce five new destinations for summer 2023: Milan, Zurich, Prague, Basel and Cairo,” Sies said during the press conference.

Next year the airline will resume twice-weekly flights to Prague, Zurich and Cairo, and for the first time twice-weekly to Basel.

Milan Bergamo will also be served twice a week with the possibility of increasing the operation to three times a week.

Current popular destinations such as Paris and Rome will remain in service throughout the summer along with Santorini (twice weekly), Skiathos (twice weekly) and Preveza (twice weekly).

Crete and Rhodes will be served by flights three times a week, while Thessaloniki will be served daily.

Beirut will regain its daily route, while flights to Tel Aviv will increase to up to 10 flights per week.

Routes to Yerevan, Armenia will increase to four weekly flights, while Athens will be served by three daily flights.

“Cyprus Airways is strategically positioned to connect Europe with Asia, the Middle East and Africa,” Sies said.

“Our plan is based on being a lean organisation with a strong brand and ambition to achieve the development and structural connection of Cyprus with Europe and beyond,” the Cyprus Airways CEO concluded.

About 50 return tickets can be won as part of Cyprus Airways’ promotional push during the holidays, with passengers automatically eligible to win.

“This festive period is the time to visit friends and family – Cyprus Airways is always making that easier by adding new flights and destinations,” said Paul Sies on Friday, the airline’s CEO.

He explained that the return tickets can be won throughout the holiday period and expects that about 50 return tickets will be handed out during the next three weeks. The tickets will be valid throughout 2023, according to the announcement.

“In this way we’re showing our appreciation for our customers and the incredible support they’ve shown us in 2022 – without them we wouldn’t have achieved such remarkable results,” Sies said.

Cyprus Airways says that summer ’23 bookings are looking strong

Cyprus Airways on Thursday released a report detailing passenger traffic results for the entirety of 2022, as well as the monthly results for the final month of the previous year.

In 2022, the Cypriot airline increased its annual traffic by a whopping 361 per cent over the previous year.

In addition, the airline’s average seat load factor during the year rose by 12 per cent, primarily attributed to its excellent performance between July and December 2022.

Moreover, Cyprus Airways more than doubled its flights and operated a total of 2,552 scheduled services, compared to 1,032 flights in the previous year, while an additional 94,289 passengers were carried on the airline’s charter business.

Cyprus Airways continued the trend that persisted throughout the previous year, carrying 27,383 passengers in December alone, compared to just 2,580 in December 2021. At the same time, the airline managed to more than double its load factor.

Furthermore, during the month of December 2022, Cyprus Airways operated 244 flights in total, compared to 60 flights in December 2021.

“2022 was our ‘recovery year’ during which, after the two years of the pandemic, and the changing geo-political situation we worked hard to take full advantage of the pent-up demand for air travel mostly during the last 6 months of the year,” Cyprus Airways Chief Executive Paul Sies said.

“Last year we increased aircraft, staff, destinations and flight frequencies, and embarked on a wide-ranging digital transformation project whilst carrying out a tough restructuring exercise in line with our new strategic plan,” he added.

What is more, Sies said that the new strategic plan will see the airline operating a hybrid business model by offering customers a low-cost base, while also giving them the choice to build their own travel experience by upgrading their services according to their requirements.

“More work needs to be done and this year we plan to continue expanding our operations to service 18 destinations whilst ensuring that our ambitious growth plans bear fruit,” Sies explained.

“Following the recent launch of services to Paris and Rome, we intend to continue expanding our European network and develop further with the Cypriot Tourist Authorities and industry more point-to-point tourism, VFR and business traffic whilst also increasing year-round connectivity to/from Cyprus,” he added.

Sies concluded by expressing his appreciation for the airline’s management team and Cyprus Airways colleagues for their efforts in 2022.

This summer Cyprus Airways will start to operate flights to Milan, Zurich, Prague, Basel, and Cairo, with a multiple weekly schedule.

Depending on demand, the airline said, destinations like Milan and Paris will be serviced with an additional weekly service.

In addition, the recently launched destinations of Paris and Rome will remain in operation through the summer and next winter, together with twice-weekly services to Santorini, Skiathos, twice per week, and Preveza, also twice per week.

Crete and Rhodes will be serviced with three times a week flights, and Thessaloniki twice a week.

Regarding Lebanon and Israel, services to Beirut will be operated daily while operations to Tel Aviv will increase to up to ten flights per week.

Finally, services to Yerevan, Armenia are set to increase to up to four weekly flights whilst Athens will be serviced with up to three daily flights.

Cyprus Airways announced on Tuesday that it has secured a license and landing slots to operate up to three weekly flights to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to its announcement, flights will operate to and from Dubai International Airport (DXB).

This new route connecting Cyprus with the Emirates creates multiple connectivity options with the Middle East, the Far East and other global destinations.

“We are excited to announce today a major milestone in our plans to further connect Cyprus to the world. Opening flights to Dubai was high on our agenda and we worked very hard to secure rights and slots to run such services,” Cyprus Airways CEO Paul Sies said.

“The United Arab Emirates is another important gateway we are adding to our ever-growing network. This important addition is in line with our commitment and plans to better serve local communities, businesses and open up new tourism opportunities in Cyprus,” he added.

The three-and-a-half-hour flights will begin on March 27 operated by an Airbus A320 aircraft, with fares starting at €649.

The flight from Larnaca will operate every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 15.15 (local time) with an arrival time of 19.45 (local time). The flight from Dubai to Larnaca will operate on the same days, with a departure time of 20.55 (local time) and an arrival time of 23.35 (local time).

Cyprus Airways carried more passengers in January this year than in 2019 before the start of the pandemic, the carrier announced on Monday.

A total of 27,356 passengers travelled on the airline last month, a number close to tenfold last year’s number.

The company operated 277 flights and improved seat occupancy by 30 per cent. Compared with January 2019, the airline carried 56 per cent more passengers and operated 69 per cent more flights.

“We started this year on a positive note, achieving good results during our traditionally quiet period. This augurs well for the year ahead during which we will continue expanding our operations to serve 19 destinations,” Chief Financial Officer Natalya Milovanova said.

Over the last few weeks, the Cyprus flag-bearing airline announced new routes to gateway destinations like Dubai, Paris and Rome.

It aims to continue to expand its network and offer improved year-round connectivity for the island, despite stiff competition.

“Although we note growth, we also find ourselves in a very competitive environment where we see that other carriers are copying our network development and adding capacity while lowering fares. This is not healthy for the market. Many of these carriers closed shop during the Covid pandemic while others had generous handouts from their governments. Cyprus Airways continued operating bringing stranded tourists and residents back home and assisting the island with cargo and passenger connectivity during this crisis,” the carrier’s chief executive Paul Sies said.

This summer Cyprus Airways will start operations to Dubai, Milan, Zurich, Prague, Basel and Cairo with a multiple-weekly flights. Milan and Paris are expected to be serviced with additional flights depending on demand.

Throughout summer the airline will continue operating to Rome and Paris and expects to further extend these destinations in winter 23/24 together with twice-weekly services each to Santorini, Skiathos and Preveza.

Crete and Rhodes are expected to be serviced with thrice-weekly flights, and Thessaloniki with a twice-weekly service.

Services to Beirut will be operated daily, while operations to Tel-Aviv will increase to up to 10 flights per week.

Services to Yerevan, Armenia are set to increase to up to four weekly flights, while Athens will be serviced with up to three flights daily.

Cyprus Airways on Thursday issued an apology for an incident involving a passenger with reduced mobility that took place on March 2.

In the past days Rafaella Miltiades, the passenger in question, filed an official complaint to the airline, claiming that a supervisor at the airport did not allow her to board the Cyprus Airways flight because she was travelling without an escort.

Miltiades said that she was not given the opportunity to mention that she has mobility problems on the airline website when booking her flight.

In her complaint, she specified that, in order to be able to board the flight, she needs a specially adapted wheelchair that would carry her to her seat through the aircraft’s door.

“I am a perfectly functional person,” she said. “I don’t need an escort and certainly I cannot be told I need one just an hour before my flight is scheduled to take off.

“The unprecedented discrimination I witnessed violated every right I have to equal treatment, inclusiveness and freedom,” she said, adding that “such regulations should have no place in our country in 2023 and should not be a barrier to the lives of any person with reduced mobility.”

On Thursday, Cyprus Airways expressed its “sincere apologies for the incident.”

“It is disappointing to see that IATA regulations are not always suitable to all our passengers. We always try to find solutions when situations such as this one arise,” the airline said.

Cyprus Airways added that it is committed to transporting all passengers to their destination and to comply with local, European, and global IATA regulations.

Miltiades was eventually allowed to board the flight and reach her destination.

“We hope that all our passengers understand that their collective safety comes first,” the statement continued.

“That said, we will review and conduct additional risk assessments to ensure that all passengers are safe and served with the utmost care.”

National flag carrier Cyprus Airways on Wednesday announced its winter flight schedule for 2023, during which it will be flying to 13 destinations with 51 weekly flights.

According to the announced schedule, the Cypriot airline will effectively be doubling its number of destinations and capacity offered this winter.

In addition, to celebrate this milestone, the airline announced the waiving of booking fees across all flights and destinations for a limited period.

The airline’s winter flight schedule includes a range of new winter destinations across Europe and the Middle East, with flights to and from major cities like Athens, Paris, Tel Aviv, and Rome.

“With over 400,000 seats on offer, the schedule is designed to meet the needs of business, VFR and leisure travellers by offering convenient flight times and affordable fares,” Cyprus Airways said in their announcement.

The winter flight schedule starts on October 29, 2023, and the airline will operate to Athens with double daily flights, Tel-Aviv with daily flights, Rome with two weekly flights, Paris with three weekly flights, Yerevan with three weekly flights, and Beirut with daily flights.

Additional destinations include Cairo with two weekly flights, Prague with two weekly flights, Milan with two weekly flights, Zurich with two weekly flights, Thessaloniki with two weekly flights, Heraklion with three weekly flights, as well as Dubai with two weekly flights.

The airline said that it is waiving booking fees across all flights and destinations to “make travel even more affordable and simple”.

“This means that customers can save on the cost of their flights, making it easier to plan and book their travels,” it added.

Paul Sies, Chief Executive Officer of Cyprus Airways, said that “we are thrilled to announce our ever-growing number of destinations and winter flight schedule and the waiving of booking fees.”

“We are committed to providing our customers with convenient and affordable travel options, and we believe that this offer will make it easier than ever for people to plan their travel and explore new destinations,” he added.

Sies also said that by offering direct flights to these popular destinations, the airline is helping to further established Cyprus as a year-round destination and making it easier to reach.

“We have the best climate in Europe and it’s high time we get more tourists enjoying it throughout the whole year,” Sies concluded.

The airline explained that the offer is available for a limited time only and customers are encouraged to book their flights as soon as possible to take advantage of these savings.

Moreover, the announcement clarified that to book a flight with Cyprus Airways and take advantage of the waived booking fees offer, customers can visit the airline’s website or contact their travel agent.

All flights are now on sale through all channels.

About 30 flights to and from Cyprus will be hit by a 24-hour nationwide strike in Greece, estimated to impact almost 3,000 travellers.

Flights to and from Greek airports will be grounded on Thursday as air traffic controllers and other key airport workers are set to join the strike over the country’s devastating train crash last month.

The strikes in Greece are set to impact five airlines operating from both Paphos and Larnaca airports – understood to be Aegean, Cyprus Airways, Olympic Air and Sky Express.

Pieris Panayi, Hermes airports spokesperson, told Phileleftheros they are currently estimating that 13 arrivals and 13 departures from Larnaca will be impacted, along with two arrivals and two departures from Paphos.

Cyprus Airways was on Thursday facing an unexpected high number of calls, with customers trying to reach the airline’s call centre waiting extremely long hours on the line.

“The airline has provided additional resources to its customer facing teams to assist and minimise inconveniences to its clients,” Paul Sies, CEO of Cyprus Airways said in a statement.

“We wish to apologise to our clients who are facing longer than normal waiting times on calls and other communication channels and we assure them that we are doing our utmost to service them as soon as possible.

“We are working hard to reduce the waiting times by extending our contact centres opening hours and providing our centres with additional resources,” Sies said.

The airline is giving priority to passengers who need to travel within the next 48 hours or who have changes for a flight within the next 10 days, by urging them to send an e-mail to callcenterurgent@cyprusairways.com.

All other categories of passengers were advised to send an email to callcenter@cyprusairways.com.

“Although we should be happy with our recent positive results which have seen bookings grow with over 200 per cent, especially to our new destinations of Paris and Dubai, and the positive feedback received with our new aircrafts, we feel that our level of service in this instance has not matched our customer expectations. For this we apologise for any inconvenience caused,” Sies added.

“We thank all guests for their patience and understanding and remain committed to service them as soon as possible.”

Cyprus Airways said that the new aircraft type which will be introduced on its routes this summer will be the most modern and fuel-efficient aircraft and environmentally friendly aircraft in the market and is expected to change the customer experience radically.

The airline added that this new project will be announced at the Paris Airshow together with Airbus.

National flag carrier Cyprus Airways on Friday announced a significant increase in its passenger volume for April 2023, providing further evidence of the travel industry’s ongoing recovery from the dire effects of the pandemic.

According to the announcement, the Cypriot airline carried 60,237 passengers during the previous month, compared to 11,556 in April 2022, marking a more than fourfold growth in passengers.

In addition, the announcement noted that 48,237 passengers were carried on the airline’s scheduled services, while an additional 12,000 passengers were carried on charter and ACMI services.

ACMI, an abbreviation for aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance, typically refers to a form of lease agreement in which an airline provides another airline with a complete package of aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance services.

Moreover, the airline operated 371 flights during April 2023, compared to 158 in April 2022, while also managing to improve its load factor by 22 per cent.

Additionally, when compared to 2019, before the start of the pandemic, Cyprus Airways carried 59 per cent more passengers on its scheduled services during this time, while also operating 45 per cent more flights.

“In April, we started flying to Dubai and Cairo, two important destinations that complement our strategic plans to improve Cyprus’ international connectivity,” Cyprus Airways Chief Financial Officer Natalya Milovanova said.

“This has helped us continue our trend of outperforming both last year and 2019, achieving month-on-month passenger growth numbers,” she added.

What is more, Milovanova said that this month, the airline will continue to expand its connectivity with multiple weekly flights to the European hubs of Zurich, Prague and Basel, while Milan will be served from June 1.

“Being the third largest airline in Cyprus behind Aegean Airlines and Wizz Air, we are bringing new inbound tourist and business passengers to the island while boosting the local economy,” Milovanova stated.

Meanwhile, Cyprus Airways CEO Paul Sies explained that the company has proven that it is not an opportunistic carrier, but that the company’s services are inextricably linked to the Cypriot community.

“With a dedicated team of people, a great network, with a good frequency of flights and two additional new generation aircraft joining the fleet, Cyprus Airways is committed to being the best value carrier to and from the island,” Sies said.

The Cyprus Airways CEO also offered an apology for the difficulties encountered in communicating with the company’s call centre in April of this year, something which has been attributed to a large number of bookings.

He pointed out that as of May 1, additional members of staff have been hired and the opening hours have been extended, in order to make it easier to contact the company.

“In April, we had a large number of bookings and it was difficult to reach the contact centre at times,” Sies said.

“For this, we apologize. From May 1, we have hired more staff and extended our opening hours. We hope this will make communicating with us much easier,” the CEO concluded.

Cyprus Airways’ strong figures for April are in line with the positive results of the entire Cypriot tourism industry.

The Cyprus Statistical Service this week reported that tourism revenue in February increased by 42.9 per cent, compared to the previous year.

The same report showed that revenue from tourism in February 2023 amounted to €56.6 million, a significant increase from the €39.6 million recorded in the same month of 2022.

Finally, for the period between January and February 2023, revenue from tourism is estimated to have reached €102.2 million, representing an increase of 50.7 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2022.