QATAR Airways launches four weekly flights to Cyprus

QATAR Airways will launch four weekly flights to Cyprus from 29 April 2014 as part of a recent agreement aiming to strengthen air transport between Cyprus and Qatar, signed in Doha last Sunday.

According to an official announcement, the agreement was signed by the Minister of Communications and Works Tasos Mitsopoulos and President of the Qatari Civil Aviation Authority Abdul Aziz Mohammad Al-Noaimi.

Mitsopoulos headed a delegation that included Presidential Undersecretary Constantinos Petrides, the Director General of the Communications and Works Ministry Alecos Michaelides, the Cypriot ambassador in Qatar Charalambos Panayides, Civil Aviation Director Iakovos Demetriou and counsel of the Ministry of Finance, Irena Georgiadou.

As the announcement notes, bilateral talks were held in a very good climate and both sides reaffirmed their willingness for further cooperation. The two countries discussed ways of expanding cooperation in the field of air transport.

Under the agreement, it is allowed the use of the fifth freedom, namely the right to carry passengers from Cyprus onwards to any two other EU destinations, except Greece, by third country carriers such as the QATAR Airways. The airline was also granted the right to use the fifth freedom for cargo handling from Cyprus to other destinations.

It was also agreed that Qatar Airways and Cyprus Airways would conclude a code sharing agreement within 30 days, which is regarded as the first step in further commercial cooperation in other aviation areas.