Best October for airport traffic

The conflict in Israel has not reduced Cyprus airport traffic in October, which spiked 21% annually, according to the latest data released from Hermes Airports.

On the contrary, compared to the same month in the record year of 2019, there is a slight increase of 4.4%.

October airport traffic topped one million for the sixth month, although the annual increase was slower than in September.

According to private operator Hermes Airports, the total number of passengers handled at Larnaca and Paphos airports reached 1.2 million, up from 1.1 million in October 2022, marking an increase of 13.7%.

In September, the year-on-year growth in the number of passengers was 18.9%.

At Larnaca airport, some 880,400 passengers were handled this October, compared to 726,000 in 2022 and 873,800 in 2019.

At Paphos airport, 368,500 passengers were handled this year, up from 372,000 last year and 322,700 in 2019.

In the first ten months of 2023, air traffic has already surpassed the number of passengers for the whole of 2022, reaching 10.4 million.

In 2022, a total of 9.2 million passengers passed through Cyprus airports and 11.3 million in 2019.

Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades recently said the government is concerned about the impact on tourist arrivals that the war in Israel is likely to cause if it is prolonged.

During the House Finance Committee’s discussion of his ministry’s budget for 2024, Vafeades mentioned that 2023 was expected to break all records regarding airport traffic.

He expects the upward trend to continue, reaching 13.7 million passengers by 2027.

Vafeades said the rise in air traffic is down to increased connectivity to 40 countries and 153 destinations due to the incentives offered by the Transport Ministry and the airports operator.