Flying to Cyprus

The island of Cyprus has been a popular destination for visitors from the UK for many years and flights to the island are now using either Paphos or Larnanca airport as their destination. British Airways has had a significant presence at Larnanca for many years, with it serving as a maintenance base and also because British Airways was a major shareholder of Cyprus Airways when it was originally founded. When the range of aircraft was more limited the base at Larnaca acted as a hub for flight travelling between Europe and the Middle East. Now however the newly modified and enlarged airport at Paphos is receiving a larger volume of flights especially as it provides easier access to holiday resorts in the south of the island. Even though the two airports are only 65 miles apart the terrain on the island makes travel quite difficult with only one major road that has to route around mountains and through tunnels making the journey seem much longer.

Larnaca airport is also undergoing major construction and improvement work as part of the same project that started with Paphos airport. The reason for the decision to invest in the improvement work was due to a significant jump in passenger levels between 2006 and 2007 when passenger numbers doubled to 5 million annually. It is thought that much of this increase was due to younger people travelling to the resort of Ayia Napa which became popular as destination for fans of nightclubs. Ayia Napa is also a resort favoured by traditional holidaymakers and, due to its location 30 miles north of Larnanca, anyone wanting to go there would select to fly to Larnaca rather than Paphos. The work at Larnaca is due to complete in 2009 and will see new terminal buildings and an improved and extended runway as well as a new control tower, fire station and improvements to the road infrastructure serving the airport. There is an expectation that passenger numbers through Larnaca will continue to grow with a predicted 9 million using the airport by 2013, so building work will continue in phases up to that point to support the expected usage. This extra work includes an additional runway extension to allow larger aircraft to use the airport and an additional terminal building and boarding ramps. Flights in and out of Larnanca currently amount to almost 50,000 per year.

The capital of the island Nicosia is also located quite close to Larnanca, 25 miles to the North West and so a fair amount of commercial business uses the airport in addition to the holiday trade that makes up the majority of traffic. Nicosia did in fact have its own airport which was used as a base by the Royal Air Force until 1966. It is still owned by the UK Ministry of Defence but is now only used as a helicopter base for United Nations peace keeping patrols. The Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 made continued operations at Nicosia airport untenable and so new airports were quickly commissioned at Ercan in the north and Paphos and Larnaca in the south. Currently the only flights operating out of Ercan are to Turkey itself, due to the fact that the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", where the airport lies, is not recognised internationally.

As a resort Larnaca is also quite attractive. The airport is located 2 miles to the south of the main town which has both a commercial harbour area and a more attractive marina complex. To the north are various beaches, several blue flag, and areas populated by holiday villas. Passengers flying into Larnanca airport will almost certainly notice the amazing salt lake, one side of which lies close to the airport perimeter. The lake provides a natural habitat for thousands of Flamingos and many other species of birds which use the lake during their migrations.

So Larnanca is not just about the airport there, although it does make up a significant part of the economy in this area. Larnanca acts as a resort in its own right but also as a gateway to holiday destinations with short transfer times to places such as Ayia Napa and Pernera to the north and Alaminos and Pervolia to the south.