Cyprus flights increasing but still down by 24% compared to 2019

Air traffic in all European Union countries, including Cyprus, remained low in August compared to August 2019 due to the pandemic.  This is according to data provided by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.

Although the total number of flights have continued to rise across Europe in recent months, it has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, according to the same figures.

In particular, in August 2021 commercial flights to and from Cyprus were reduced by 24% compared to August 2019.  The decrease on average in the EU during the same period was 31%.

Cyprus is in sixth place among the countries with the lowest decrease in flights compared to 2019.  The lowest decrease between August 2019 and August 2021 occurred in Greece (7%), Romania (18%) and Croatia (22%) , followed by Luxembourg (24%) and Malta (24%).

The largest reductions in flights during the same period were recorded in Finland (60%), Ireland (55%), Slovenia (54%), Slovakia (52%) and the Czech Republic (51%).

However, Eurostat data show that a recovery in air transport is underway, as the number of commercial flights increased by 48% in August 2021 compared to August 2020, although it remains lower compared to August 2019 (31% ).

In the case of Cyprus, the number of flights in August 2021 compared to August 2020 increased by 82%, but remains 24% lower than in the period before the pandemic.

In absolute numbers, 479 thousand commercial flights were operated throughout the EU in August 2021, compared to 325 thousand in August 2020.  In August 2019, a total of 696 thousand flights were operated.