Cyprus Airways

Cyprus Airways

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Cyprus Airways

Cyprus Airways Public Ltd is the national airline of Cyprus, based in Nicosia. It operates scheduled services to over 30 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and the Gulf. Its main operational base is Larnaca International Airport, due to the closure of Nicosia International Airport following the 1974 Turkish invasion. It also has a hub at Paphos International Airport.^[1]

History
Destinations

Europe
Asia
Africa

Fleet

Past Fleet

Livery
SunMiles
Services
References
External links

History

Promotional thermometer

Cyprus Airways was established on 24 September 1947 as a joint venture between the colonial Government of Cyprus, BEA (British European Airways) and private interests.^[2] Operations commenced on 18 April 1948 with Douglas DC-3 aircraft on regional routes from Nicosia International Airport. Under a charter agreement, Cyprus Airways began to use BEA Vickers Viscount airliners from 18 April 1953 over the Athens-Nicosia sector as a continuation of the BEA London-Rome-Athens service. BEA took over the operation of all Cyprus Airways services effective 26 January 1958 by special arrangement.

The first Hawker Siddeley Trident jet was introduced in September 1969. Cyprus Airways used five Trident jets, three of them acquired from BEA, but two units were destroyed in the wake of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the Turkish Air Force attack on Nicosia airport in July 1974 while the third unit had to be abandoned. All of the Cypriot airline's operations had to be suspended at that time.

Cyprus Airways was able to restart limited operations from Larnaca on 8 February 1975. In 1992, it established its wholly-owned charter subsidiary Eurocypria Airlines to obtain a greater share of the burgeoning inbound IT charter market to Cyprus. It founded Hellas Jet in Athens (Greece) in 2002, holding a 75% share of that carrier.

Cyprus Airways is owned by the Government of Cyprus (69.62%) and private shareholders (30.38%) and has 1,220 employees (at March 2007).^[1]

Destinations

Services (as of March 2008) ^[3]:

Europe

Airbus A319-100 in Vienna

Airbus A320-200

Airbus A330-200

Austria
- Vienna (Vienna International Airport)
Belgium
- Brussels (Brussels Airport)
Bulgaria
- Sofia (Sofia Airport)
France
- Paris (Charles de Gaulle International Airport) (some flights via Thessaloniki)
Germany
- Frankfurt (Frankfurt International Airport)
Greece
- Athens (Athens International Airport)
- Heraklion (Heraklion International Airport) (one flight per week operated by Eurocypria and three by Cyprus Airways)
- Rhodes (Rhodes International Airport, "Diagoras") (via Heraklion)
- Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki International Airport)
Italy
- Milan (Malpensa International Airport)
- Rome (Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport)
Netherlands
- Amsterdam (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol)
Romania
- Bucharest (Henri Coand? International Airport)
Russia
- Moscow (Sheremetyevo International Airport)
Switzerland
- Zürich (Zürich Airport)
United Kingdom
- England
  - Birmingham (Birmingham International Airport) (one flight a week is operated by Eurocypria and the remaining flights are operated by Cyprus Airways)
  - London
    - (London Heathrow Airport)
    - (London Stansted Airport)
  - Manchester (Manchester Airport)

Asia

Africa

Egypt
- Cairo

Fleet

As of December 2008, the Cyprus Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft^[4] having an average age of 12.9 years^[5]:

Aircraft	#	Passenger (Business/Economy)	Routes	Notes
Airbus A319-132	3	126 (12/114)	Amman, Athens, Bahrain, Brussels, Cairo, Damascus, Dubai, Frankfurt, Heraklion, Jeddah, Rhodes, Rome, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Zurich	Third aircraft delivered by ILFC on 26 November 2008
Airbus A320-231	7	158 (15/143) 156 (25/131)	Amman, Amsterdam, Athens, Bahrain, Birmingham, Bucharest, Cairo, Damascus, Dubai, Frankfurt, Heraklion, Jeddah, London Heathrow, London Stansted, Manchester, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rhodes, Rome, Riyadh, Sofia, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Zurich
Airbus A330-243	2	295 (30/265)	London Heathrow, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and sometimes Athens and Manchester

Past Fleet

Livery

The Cyprus Airways livery is an all white fuselage, with the words Cyprus Airways in blue over the front passenger windows. The tail is all blue with a mouflon symbol, a type of wild sheep indigenous to Cyprus.

SunMiles

SunMiles is Cyprus Airways' frequent flyer program. There are 4 tiers of membership: Student, Regular, Premier and Elite.

Services

Cyprus Airways offers travel in economy (Aphrodite class Y) and business class (Apollo class C). Apollo class passengers have access to the Sunjet executive lounge at Larnaca and Paphos Airports.