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Cyprus
Airways is to add another dedicated non-stop weekly flight from Dubai to
Larnaca from June, bringing the carrier’s total weekly flights from the emirate to
three.
The move follows increased demand for more capacity from the region, especially
Dubai.
The news comes as Cyprus Airways reports increased passenger traffic on six of
its eight Middle East routes for the first four months of this year.
From January to April, Dubai recorded a spectacular 159.4% increase in
passenger traffic over the same period last year. Increases were also recorded
from Beirut, Cairo, Amman, Damascus and Bahrain.
Cyprus Airways will operate an Airbus A320 on its new Dubai-Larnaca flight with
156 seats in a two-class, business and economy configuration. Flight CY 393 will
depart Dubai every Tuesday at 04.40 hrs arriving Larnaca at 07.20 hrs, in time for
convenient early morning connecting flights to European destinations.
“The timing is ideally suited for business people who want to immediately get
down to work in Cyprus or leisure travellers who want to make the most of their
time on the island once they arrive,” said Stavros Kyprianou, Cyprus Airways’
Middle East and Gulf Chief.
The airline currently has return flights from Dubai to Larnaca every Thursday,
operated with an Airbus A319 in a two-class configuration with 12 business class
and 114 economy class seats, and on Sundays, with an Airbus A320.
“We anticipate even more demand on this route from people wanting to attend the
Olympic Games, in Athens this August. Cyprus Airways currently operates five
daily flights from Larnaca to the Greek capital and provides a relatively seamless
service in reaching Athens,” added Kyprianou.
“Further developments, such as the impending opening of the Cyprus Tourism
Organisation’s regional office in Dubai, will also give further impetus to marketing
Cyprus as an attractive short-haul tourism destination especially for Middle
Eastern visitors,” added Kyprianou.
All Cyprus Airways’ regional destinations, excluding Jeddah and Riyadh,
witnessed significant passenger traffic growth in the first four months of 2004 with
Cairo recording 39.7%, Damascus 36.8%, Bahrain 6.7%, Beirut 2.4% and Amman
a 1.1% increase.
“This increased demand reflects the growing importance of Cyprus in the Middle
East and international tourism market and as a natural progression, the development of Cyprus Airways into a world-class carrier,” said
Kyprianou.
Overall the Cypriot national flag carrier reported a 19.5% increase in passenger
traffic for the first four months of 2004 over the same period last year.
The imminent entry of Cyprus into the European Union (EU) has also given the
airline the choice to operate flights to additional EU - it currently flies to 22
European airports.
“Together with our fully-owned subsidiary Eurocypria, which operates mainly
charter flights from European destinations to Cyprus, we also plan to add more
cities to the route map,” said Kyprianou.
Cyprus Airways currently boasts a network covering 21 countries. The airline
operates 16 flights a week to London Heathrow and seven additional weekly
flights to other London airports, namely Gatwick and Standsted. In addition, the
carrier operates four times a week to Manchester and two to Birmingham. |
