Airport passenger traffic on the rise

Another busy month at Cyprus airport, as tourists make the most of the last sunny months of the season while Cypriots are getting their last short getaway before Christmas.

According to data released by airports operator Hermes, in September, passenger traffic at Larnaca Airport spiked 31.4% to 728.300 travellers from 554.300 in September 2021.

Compared to pre-COVID September 2019, passenger traffic decreased by 25.9%.

Paphos airport’s passenger traffic reached 377.800, from 268.600 last year, marking an increase of 40.6%.

Compared to 2019, unlike the Larnaca airport, there was an increase of 10.5% as more airlines used Paphos.

Overall, in September, airline passenger traffic reached 1.1 million, up from 822,900 last year, recording an increase of 34.4%.

Compared to 2019, overall passenger traffic dropped by 16.5%.

Some 7.028 million passengers walked through the island’s airports in the nine months from January to September.

In the first nine months of 2021, traffic rose to 5.1 million, up from 2.3 million in COVID-hit 2020.

Based on the data released by Hermes, it is estimated that total passenger traffic this year will exceed 8.7 million, corresponding to 78% of the passenger traffic the island saw in pre-coronavirus 2019.

It is more proof that the island’s tourist numbers are on the rebound following two years lost during the travel-restricted pandemic.

In 2019, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the island welcomed a record 3.97 million tourists.

Last year, amid tough COVID travel restrictions, some 1.93 million tourists made their way to the island.

Tourist stakeholders may have had fewer worries over COVID restrictions; however, the war in Ukraine meant the loss of some 800,000 tourists from Russia and Ukraine.