For the first time, Paphos airport welcomed a record 3,000,000 passengers passing through in a year since it opened its doors in 1983.
The 3,000,000th passenger at Paphos Airport was Natalia Albinowska travelling to Berlin with easyJet on Wednesday.
Albinowska, from Poland, had scanned her boarding card and passed through security to departures where dignitaries from airport operator Hermes and the Paphos mayor Phedon Phedonos greeted her.
She was handed a bouquet of flowers and a bag of other goodies.
Hermes Chief Executive Officer, Eleni Kalogirou said the 3 million figure is more than just a statistic.
“It is the tangible evidence of a steady upward trend that Paphos Airport has been exemplifying in the last decade.”
“We believed that with proper management Paphos airport could significantly contribute to making Cyprus a whole-year destination,” she said.
Since taking over the management of Cyprus airports in 2006, Hermes has invested €127 mln in Paphos, exclusively for the creation of infrastructure and a new passenger lounge at the airport.
“In 2008 we delivered, within the agreed time and budget, the new state-of-the-art facilities and 11 years later, passenger traffic at Paphos Airport has increased from 1.7 million at the end of 2008 to 3 million today,” said Kalogirou.
Hermes Airports plans to launch upgrades and renovations of Paphos Airport’s shops and cafeterias in 2020, aiming to enhance travellers’ experience.
Kalogirou said protecting the environment remains a strategic priority, and Hermes is in the process of applying for a license to create a photovoltaic park at the airport, which will reduce energy consumption by 30%, reducing emissions.
She stressed that routes from Paphos Airport have increased this winter, with the addition of new destinations to Beirut, Katowice and Malta.
The popular route to Athens has been reinstated, while eight weekly flights will carry 100,000 passengers to German airports from next April – November 2020.
Hermes Airports assumed management and control of Paphos and Larnaca International Airports as of 12 May 2006, under a 25-year BOT (Build – Operate – Transfer) concession agreement with the Cyprus Government, making it the first privatisation of its kind in the country. The new Larnaca airport was delivered in 2009.
At the end of 2019, combined passenger traffic at Larnaca and Paphos Airport is expected to exceed 11 million for the first time.
