Rapid expansion for Cyprus Airways

Cyprus Airways in the first half of 2023 carried a total of 260,000 passengers marking a steep increase of 300% year on year, while it doubled its operations compared with June of last year.

According to a press release, in June the Cypriot flag carrier carried 59,110 passengers, compared with 29,979 last year.

Last month, Cyprus Airways operated 478 scheduled flights (June ’22: 280 flights) and improved its load factor by 3%.

Compared to June 2019 (the most important benchmark), before the start of the pandemic, Cyprus Airways carried 44% more passengers on its scheduled services and operated 34% more flights, the company added.

From January to June, Cyprus Airways carried 260,000 (scheduled and charter) passengers compared with the 64,000 passengers in the respective period of last year, corresponding to an annual increase of more than 300%.

Compared with the first half of 2019, Cyprus’ historic record year, Cyprus Airways operations were down by 35.5%.

“We are now in peak summer and all our 18 destinations for this summer are operational. With over 60 weekly flights to a variety of destinations, we have made sure to offer a great summer schedule for our customers,” said Paul Sies, Chief Executive of Cyprus Airways.

He added that “the congested airports and airways are themselves challenging. Furthermore, the use of wet leased capacity from 3rd party airline Nordica, helped us to increase our number of flights, however, this has not always delivered the punctuality we are used to of our fleet,” and apologized to anyone that has been touched or experienced such a delay.

As Sies noted the addition of the new aircraft Airbus A220 aircraft to the company’s fleet, “will undoubtedly help us to offer a superior onboard travel experience to our passengers whilst improving our operational efficiency and environmental sustainability efforts. With our new aircraft coming online we will have more opportunities to absorb delays and deliver a better service to our guests.”

According to the company, the A220 boasts a large and quiet cabin offering the widest economy seats and the largest overhead stowage in its class. It also enjoys impressive fuel efficiency with a 25% reduction in fuel burn per seat and a 50% less noise footprint than the previous generation of aircraft, while it has around 40% less NOx emissions than industry standards.