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Minister of Communications and Works Nicos Nikolaides has denounced the refusal of Turkey to cooperate with Cyprus’ air traffic control services and to allow the use of its airspace by Cypriot airlines.
Addressing the Annual European Air Safety Conference, taking place in Cyprus, Nikolaides said that despite the devastating consequences on Cyprus aviation infrastructure, due to the 1974 Turkish invasion, “we have managed to gradually rebuild our infrastructure and today civil aviation in Cyprus is very much comparable with any other European state”.
“We are proud to say that we have built two brand new and modern international airports, one in Pafos which is already in operation and the main international airport in Larnaca, which is expected to begin operations in November this year”, he said.
“Similarly”, he added, “a new state of the art air traffic control system will be completed in the next few months, along with a new secondary radar and other facilities”.
“In parallel”, he continued, “we are in the process of restructuring the Civil Aviation Department by installing new institutional arrangements which would give flexibility to an independent service provider and at the same time improve the effectiveness of regulation and oversight of the State”.
Nikolaides stressed that “these projects, and indeed all our aviation policies and procedures, are based on international law and are carried out within the framework of the ICAO Convention and the relevant principles of the European Union and EUROCONTROL”.
“Unlike any other European country, Cyprus is adjacent to five non-European countries and its FIR is the first point of entry and exit for traffic between the East and Europe and reversely,” he said, and added: “this, as you may appreciate, makes coordination and operating in conjunction with others much more difficult and therefore our controllers are faced with an extra challenge”.
As he noted, “this challenge becomes even greater by the refusal of Turkey to cooperate with our air traffic control services, contrary to the relevant provisions of the ICAO convention”.
“Even when certain international institutions tried to find a technical solution to the problem, the Turkish position was again negative”, Nikolaides pointed out.
In addition, he said, “Turkey refuses to allow the use of its airspace by Cypriot airlines”, noting that “this refusal is illegal and against all international laws”.
Furthermore, he underlined, “it exposes our airlines to unfair competition, it leads to delays and it is detrimental to the environment”.
He, also, said that “yet, despite all these challenges, in 2008 our controllers managed safely in the Nicosia FIR 260.000 flights, carrying some 20 million passengers”.
“For a small country like Cyprus, these are impressive figures”, the Minister concluded.
