Cobalt, the new flag carrier of Cyprus, will start commercial flights on June 1 on board its first Airbus A320 that arrived this week, with the schedule increasing to 14 destinations by July and has set its sights on flights from at least two Chinese destinations by next year.
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The airline’s chairman Gregoris Diacos said on the sidelines of the Taxidi 2016 travel show in Nicosia that the air operating certitificate (AOC) licensing process is currently in its final stages and will soon add more aircraft to its fleet.
By summer, Cobalt will be flying to Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Chania, London, Manchester, East Midlands, Glasgow, Cardiff, Dublin, Paris, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Tehran, with more aircraft and destinations to be added by October. By 2017, the aim is to have a fleet of eight aircraft.
Diacos said that the company is a strong believer in the skillset of Cypriots and has chosen to recruit a mostly local workforce of 145, a significant number of whom Cyprus Airways former employees.
In his speech, the chairman said the workforce will grow to 175 and set an ambitious target of 500 employees.
With CEO Andrew Pyne describing the airline as “economy plus”, he said Cobalt will be adding long-haul A330 aircraft next year and is expected to fly from at least two Chinese cities.
“The Chinese market offers a huge potential for us and as we will be operating direct flights, a combination of beach holidays, good food, religious and archaeological visits and shopping will be the main driving force,” he told the Financial Mirror.
“We expect to secure the AOC license any time soon, after which tour operators (from western Europe, Russia and China) are waiting to conclude bulk seat buying with us for the summer 2017 season. Until then, our business will primarily be for the retail and seat-only markets,” Pyne said.
The chief executive, with more than two decades’ of experience in the Far East market, said that Cyprus also needs to act fast on visa issuance, “similar to the quick visa system for Russia” as Chinese tourists will pounce on any opportunity that entails a rapid process and lower cost on their holiday package.
Pyne added that as some investors in Cobalt are active in China, this convergence of expertise will help feed tourist traffic to the airline.
“After all, we plan to use Cyprus as our main hub and from here to offer, say, single-day short breaks to neighbouring holiday destinations, and also in-airline connection flights to destinations farther into Europe,” he said.
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