— Etihad to start code share flights to Abu Dhabi with Cyprus Airways —
Passenger traffic at Cyprus’ two airports is down 6.3%, with officials saying that the arrival of new airlines, such as the UAE’s Etihad, should help business to pick up.
Alfred van der Meer, CEO of operator Hermes Airports, said that the global recession is already being felt in Cyprus as traffic at Larnaca airport, where the new terminal will open in November, was down 4.7%, while the drop was greater at Paphos airport, at 11%, as this was a primarily tourist destination.
“In these circumstances, we can do only one thing – open our doors and welcome new business,” van der Meer said, at the code-share agreement signing ceremony between Etihad and Cyprus Airways.
“The new terminal in Larnaca fits the standard of quality airlines,” such as Etihad, he said.
The two national carriers signed a code-share agreement for the three weekly flights from and to Abu Dhabi, whereby Cyprus Airways’ ‘CY’ code will be added to the Etihad-operated flights from September.
“We hope to some day increase this frequency to daily flights,” said Etihad’s Chief Commercial Officer Peter Baumgartner.
Two other agreements are also in the pipeline, said Cyprus Airways’ Commercial Manager, Christos Agapiou.
“One is a catering contract with Cyprus Airways Catering Services and the other is for engineering maintenance at our facility at Larnaca,” Agapiou said.
He added that although members of the Sunmiles frequent flyer programme could benefit from the code-share flights to Abu Dhabi, “joining our frequent flyer programmes is in our targets within the expansion of our agreements in the very near future.”
Agapiou said that existing code-share agreements with other airlines, such as with Etihad’s rival Gulf Air to neighbouring emirate Bahrain, will remain in place.
Cyprus Airways also has code-share agreements with KLM, Alitalia, Aeroflot, SN Brussels, Olympic, Syrian Air, Royal Jordanian, Saudi Arabian and AeroSvit, while Etihad, considered one of the fastest-growing airlines at present, has code-share deals with Bangkok Airways, Brussels, Malaysian, Jet Airways, Sri Lankan, Royal Air Maroc, Qantas, bmi and Ukraine International.
Panos Englezos, chairman of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, said that the state has not given any financial aid to airlines to choose or maintain Cyprus as a destination.
“Our assistance has been in the form of promotion, advertising and other help provided to tour operators,” he said, adding, however, that a new scheme approved by the European Commission to assist companies for new routes will not start until next year.
Etihad started the Larnaca service on June 14 and operates 140-seat Airbus A320s with a configuration of 20 in business and 120 in economy. The flights are on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. It operates a fleet of 50 aircraft, including the wide-bodied A340 on the Chicago route starting in September.
