Surge in September airport passenger traffic

Cyprus airports witnessed bumper traffic flows for September, as passenger numbers exceeded one million for the fifth consecutive month.

According to data issued by the Cyprus Statistical Services, in September, passengers that went through the island’s two airports were 1.3 million, compared to 1.1 million in September 2022, marking an 18.9% increase.

Compared to the September 2019 benchmark, passenger traffic decreased slightly by 0.7%.

Some 913,100 passengers passed through Larnaca airport last month, compared to 728,300 in 2022 and 982,300 in September 2019.

Paphos Airport saw 401,800 passengers this year, compared to 377,800 last year and 341,000 in 2019.

So far this year, airport traffic has reached 9.1 million, slightly down from 9.2 million in 2022 and significantly below the 11.3 million in 2019.

The figures are before the war in Israel broke out on 7 October, thus not including arrivals of third-country citizens feeling the war zone and departures of Israelis returning home.

Operator Hermes Airports senior manager Maria Kouroupi said that Larnaca airport is ready to act as a transit station in case of evacuation of foreign nationals from Israel.

Israeli airlines are adding charter flights from Larnaca Airport to Tel Aviv to repatriate Israelis either in Cyprus or arriving on the island from other countries.

Larnaca-based TUS Airways will offer additional flights to and from Tel Aviv to Larnaca and Athens.

The airline said seven additional flights will be carried out on Tuesday, five on Wednesday, two on Thursday and one on Friday.

Cyprus Airways also announced waiving ticket reissue fees for those travelling between Tel Aviv and Larnaca until 15 November who wish to travel earlier or later.