Wizz Air expects to bring to Cyprus between 700,000 to 800,000 passengers by the end of the year, Evelyn Jeckel, Wizz Air leadership team representative has told CNA.

"We actually have around 400,000 passengers here in Cyprus this summer and overall, we expect between 700,000 to 800,000 by the end of the year" she said.

Wizz Air, a Hungarian airline founded in 2004, operates all across Europe and the Middle East with over 1000 routes at this stage and 160 aircraft based in 40 different places. Larnaca is the company's base in in Cyprus.

"We have been flying to Larnaca since 2005, but we only became a base a bit later. We now have two aircraft based here" she said, praising Cyprus as a tourist destination. 

Noting that the airliner serves 18 countries and over 30 routes with over 80 weekly flights in the peak season she said that this is a "very sizable operation." "We fly equally from Romania, from Israel, from Armenia, from Bulgaria, from Hungary. So there are a lot of countries in the network that we fly to Cyprus from" she said, naming some of them.

Regarding passenger traffic she said that "we actually have around 400,000 passengers here in Cyprus this summer and overall, we expect between 700,000 to 800,000 by the end of the year, and this is actually a pretty decent operation. But there are also challenges with the cost side and supply chain side. So I would say the summer was good, but overall for airlines, obviously this environment is still very challenging".

Asked if they think of having a base in Paphos as well, she said that they do not operate flights to Paphos at the moment, but they are open to the idea.

Regarding the company's future plans for Cyprus, she said that they have a very decent route network but it can always get better.

She explained that they have announced three flights from Larnaca to Saudi Arabia very recently and they will fly from April to Riyadh, and from July to Jeddah "and so this is actually a very new development and part of a development package that we have in Saudi Arabia".

As for future plans, she said that "the majority of the growth will come probably from the Middle East."

She said that Larnaca overall has been very resilient, noting its good geographical location.

"People like to come here, for obvious reasons. I know that this country has been very reliant on Russian traffic, but I think that eventually it will come back. But until then, I think you have more than enough markets to work with", she said adding that there is demand from London, Warsaw, Sofia and many other places.

Asked if they are doing any business in occupied Cyprus, she replied "no and it is not in our plans."