Cyprus Airways

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Cyprus Airways Public Ltd was the national airline of Cyprus, based in Nicosia. It operated scheduled services to over 30 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and the Gulf. Its main operational base was Larnaca International Airport, due to the closure of Nicosia International Airport following the 1974 Turkish invasion. It also had a hub at Paphos International Airport.[1]


History

Cyprus Airways was established on 24 September 1947 as a joint venture between the colonial Government of Cyprus, BEA (British European Airways) and private interests.[2] Operations commenced on 18 April 1948 with Douglas DC-3 aircraft on regional routes from Nicosia International Airport. Under a charter agreement, Cyprus Airways began to use BEA Vickers Viscount airliners from 18 April 1953 over the Athens-Nicosia sector as a continuation of the BEA London-Rome-Athens service. BEA took over the operation of all Cyprus Airways services effective 26 January 1958 by special arrangement.

The first Hawker Siddeley Trident jet was introduced in September 1969. Cyprus Airways used five Trident jets, three of them acquired from BEA, but two units were destroyed in the wake of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the Turkish Air Force attack on Nicosia airport in July 1974 while the third unit had to be abandoned. All of the Cypriot airline's operations had to be suspended at that time.

Cyprus Airways was able to restart limited operations from Larnaca on 8 February 1975. In 1992, it established its wholly-owned charter subsidiary Eurocypria Airlines to obtain a greater share of the burgeoning inbound IT charter market to Cyprus. It founded Hellas Jet in Athens (Greece) in 2002, holding a 75% share of that carrier.

Cyprus Airways was owned by the Government of Cyprus (69.62%) and private shareholders (30.38%) and had 1,220 employees (at March 2007).[1]

On January 9, 2015, the EU ruled that Cyprus Airways cannot be subsidised by the the government of Cyprus since they had already received subsidies less than ten years before (2007). As a result of the ruling, the airline ceased all operations.

Destinations

Services (as of March 2008) [3]:

Europe

  • Austria
    • Vienna (Vienna International Airport)
  • Belgium
    • Brussels (Brussels Airport)
  • Bulgaria
    • Sofia (Sofia Airport)
  • France
    • Paris (Charles de Gaulle International Airport) (some flights via Thessaloniki)
  • Germany
    • Frankfurt (Frankfurt International Airport)
  • Greece
  • Italy
    • Milan (Malpensa International Airport)
    • Rome (Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport)
  • Netherlands
    • Amsterdam (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol)
  • Romania
    • Bucharest (Henri Coandă International Airport)
  • Russia
    • Moscow (Sheremetyevo International Airport)
  • Switzerland
    • Zürich (Zürich Airport)
  • United Kingdom
    • England
      • Birmingham (Birmingham International Airport) (one flight a week is operated by Eurocypria and the remaining flights are operated by Cyprus Airways)
      • London
        • (London Heathrow Airport)
        • (London Stansted Airport)
      • Manchester (Manchester Airport)

Asia

  • Bahrain
    • Manama
  • Israel
    • Tel Aviv
  • Jordan
    • Amman
  • Lebanon
    • Beirut
  • Saudi Arabia
    • Jeddah
    • Riyadh
  • Syria
    • Damascus
  • United Arab Emirates
    • Dubai

Africa

  • Egypt
    • Cairo

Fleet

As of November 2008, the Cyprus Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft[4] having an average age of 13.8 years[5]:

Aircraft # Passenger (Business/Economy) Routes Notes
Airbus A319-132 2 126 (12/114) Amman, Athens, Bahrain, Brussels, Cairo, Damascus, Dubai, Frankfurt, Heraklion, Jeddah, Rhodes, Rome, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Zurich One leased aircraft on order[6]
Airbus A320-231 7 158 (15/143)
156 (25/131)		 Amman, Amsterdam, Athens, Bahrain, Birmingham, Bucharest, Cairo, Damascus, Dubai, Frankfurt, Heraklion, Jeddah, London Heathrow, London Stansted, Manchester, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rhodes, Rome, Riyadh, Sofia, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Zurich
Airbus A330-243 2 295 (30/265) London Heathrow, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and sometimes Athens and Manchester

Livery

The Cyprus Airways livery was an all white fuselage, with the words Cyprus Airways in blue over the front passenger windows. The tail is all blue with a mouflon symbol, a type of wild sheep indigenous to Cyprus.

SunMiles

SunMiles was Cyprus Airways' frequent flyer program. There were 4 tiers of membership: Student, Regular, Premier and Elite.

Services

Cyprus Airways offered travel in economy (Aphrodite class Y) and business class (Apollo class C). Apollo class passengers had access to the Sunjet executive lounge at Larnaca and Paphos Airports.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Flight International 3 April 2007
  2. ↑ http://www.cyprusairways.com/main/default.aspx?it=1&tabid=88&itemid=330 Cyprus Airways brief history, 2007-10-23, Cyprus Airways
  3. ↑ Welcome to Cyprus Airways official home page - Book online cheap flights to and from Cyprus, Europe, Middle East and Gulf
  4. ↑ Planespotters.net Cyprus Airways page. Retrieved 5 November 2008
  5. ↑ Airfleets.net fleet age - Cyprus Airways. Retrieved: 5 November 2008.
  6. ↑ Cyprus Airways announcement to the Cyprus Stock Exchange. Retrieved: 5 November 2008.

External links


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