Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Yannis Karousos and Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios focused on the government`s objectives to improve Cyprus' air connectivity and the country`s tourism industry in general, during a press conference held on Wednesday 2 March for the presentation of the new flight programme of the TUS airways.

Replying to a question about a possible revision of the government`s decision to close Cyprus' airspace to Russian planes after Turkey said it would not impose similar sanctions, Karousos said that "this is something we will discuss with the Foreign Minister and the President of the Republic in order to take decisions."

According to Karousos, Cyprus had to take drastic measures in 2020 in an effort to deal with the severe impact caused by the restrictive measures on the aviation sector and by extension on tourism, which together contribute more than 20 per cent of the country`s GDP.

"The most substantial action was the development of an action plan for the resumption of flights that was put in place in June 2020, which was also supported by a temporary incentive plan prepared in collaboration with the operators and granted to the airlines to cope with the impact of the pandemic," he said, adding that "the plan has recently been extended with approval from the European Commission with effect until the end of June 2022 and with a budget for the next six months of €6.1 million. We expect 60 airlines offering flights connecting our country with the rest of the world to take advantage of the project in the first half of 2022."
 
In addition, the Transport Minister also referred to the initiative taken by Cyprus at the European level with the promotion of the Declaration on Air Connectivity, with the main objective of supporting the aviation sector. "We were pleased to see 13 of our EU partners welcome this initiative and we are pleased to announce that on 7 and 8 April we will host a conference in Cyprus with the participation of 13 European transport ministers, which will culminate in the signing of the declaration", he added.

Karousos also mentioned the war situation in Ukraine, saying that if it remains unstable, and given the sanctions imposed against Russia, it will mean "a reduction of about 15% of the total passenger traffic estimated for 2022, which translates into about 1.6 million passengers (arrivals and departures)."
 
Finally, the Transport Minister praised TUS Airways` contribution in implementing the Ministry`s strategy over the past year, and announced that the company was granted commercial rights for the Larnaca - Beijing - Larnaca route twice per week.
 
On his part, the Deputy Minister of Tourism thanked all stakeholders for their cooperation in "rescuing" the tourism sector over the past three years, and noted that "it is very important that airlines align with the national tourism strategy, the objectives of opening new markets and increasing adequate connectivity, a strategy which was presented after consultation with all stakeholders." 
 
In his intervention, TUS CEO Michael Weinstein said that the company believes in Cyprus and that the company`s aim is to transform Larnaca airport into "a transit hub, including new destinations from September, such as Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, Marrakech in Morocco, Dubai in the UAE, as well as Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia."
 
According to a company spokesman, seasonal routes from Larnaca to Greece (Kefalonia, Skiathos, Kalamata, Preveza) and Central Europe (Lyon, Strasbourg, Toulouse) will start in 2022, as well as permanent routes to Brussels, Paris, Tel Aviv and Eilat, while from seasonal routes Paphosto Paris, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg and permanent ones to Athens and Tel Aviv have been planned as well.
 
Responding to a question about a possible revision of the government`s decision to close the airspace of Cyprus to Russian aircraft after Turkey said it would not implement sanctions, Karousos said that "this is something we will discuss with the Foreign Minister and the President of the Republic in order to take decisions. At the moment our decision remains valid, as decided in the EU Foreign Affairs Council, but I stress that we are the only country that had a reservation, which was noted down and for which, as far as I have been informed, a way was found to be legally protected."

He remarked, however that "Russia`s economy has been so negatively affected that even if there was no flight ban we would not get the tourists we anticipated", while pointing out that attention is turning to actions that will attract new markets in an attempt to fill the gap created by the Russian and Ukrainian markets.
 
In response to the same question, the Deputy Minister of Tourism stressed that "we must be particularly cautious with regard to the Russian-speaking markets, given that there is a war going on at the moment that no one knows when it will end or when we will be able to reopen our skies for the Russian market", while with regard to the opening of Cyprus to new markets, Perdios pointed out that the connection of Cyprus with countries such as Saudi Arabia and France is the result of previous targeted actions.