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The new 656,3 million euro Larnaca International Airport was inaugurated by President Demetris Christofias on Saturday, welcoming a new age of innovation and development in air transportation for Cyprus. Initial operations will begin on Tuesday with all the flights of national carrier Cyprusd Airways and budget airline easyJet. All other airlines will follow a week later, on November 17.
In his inaugural speech, President Chrsitofias said the new airport would play a significant role in establishing Cyprus as a key transit point for decades to come. He noted that today is a landmark, not just in the history of Cypriot tourism, but also for the country’s developmental infrastructure in its entirety.
Christofias also noted that “with its operation, we feel the new Larnaca Airport guarantees that Cyprus plays a significant role in the broader Eastern Mediterranean area.”
He said that the airport would help Cyprus emerge from the grip of the financial crisis, while he ensured that the government takes necessary measures to ease the consequences.
The new airport terminal, built by French giant Bouyges Batiment International and operated by the Hermes Airports Consortium for 25 years, will have a capacity of 7.5 mln passengers a year, with a prospect of raising that to 9 mln. The old terminal, built hastily in 1975 seven months after the Turkish invasion, had a design capacity of 3 mln passengers but handled 5 mln.
The new airport terminal is twice as big as the previous one, employs 16 air bridges to reduce time and cost for airlines and has far greater parking spaces. It will soon have an autonomous solar-powered energy unit Hermes Airports plans to build a hotel east of the terminal building.
Communications and Works Minister Nicos Nicolaides said that “today we take a defining step towards the implementation of the policy of our government to turn Cyprus into a transit hub between Europe and the Middle East. Through new infrastructure and new approaches Cyprus may attract new investments and new business activities that will allow us to proceed to a new course of economic and social development, which will benefit the people of Cyprus as a whole,” he added.
French Minister of State responsible for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche, said it was highly appreciated by the French government that a French operator was selected for such an endeavour, which is the largest ever French direct investment in Cyprus.
He also noted that this event “is a very good demonstration of the wide-range of the bilateral relationship between France and Cyprus, a relationship that is built on shared values and has deepened over the last ten years”
He also conveyed a message of friendship by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the people of France to President Christofias and the people of Cyprus, adding in a political statement that “all sides in a conflict should be prepared to make some compromises.”
Nicos Shacolas, chairman of the operator Hermes Airports, said that the airport was delivered without any delay, noting that its construction constitutes one of the biggest investments ever made in Cyprus without any governmental funding and guarantees.
He also announced that at least five new airlines would be using Larnaka airport in coming weeks.
Hermes Airports Vice-Chairman Daniel Rigout of the French construction group Bouygues Batiment International said “the proof of the fulfilment of all our engagements stands today before you, and we are extremely proud to have contributed to this project and in doing so, making available all the resources of the Bouygues Group.”
He noted that “we wanted to make this place a significant gateway to Cyprus, a place that would be unique and that, beyond the quality of its technologies, had a soul”, adding that “we also paid particular attention to the sustainable development aspects in the design and in the construction, and we have the ambition within the next months, with the help of all concerned parties, to complete this project with a unique installation in Europe, enabling a significant production of electricity by a solar plant.”
Cypriot EU Commissioner for Health Androulla Vassiliou assured in her speech that the European Commission will continue to support all efforts for the successful operation of the new airport. She said that the new airport is something that everyone was waiting for not only in Cyprus but in Europe as well, as it constitutes a strategic point for entering Europe and a hub in the Middle East and a connection point between the East and West.
