Newsroom
As Cyprus’ two community leaders discuss the future of the island, air traffic controllers are warning of a very different kind of tension in the skies: Turkish drones flying close to Larnaca and Paphos airports and along important civilian flight routes.
The activity has reportedly been taking place for about a year and is now occurring almost daily. In some cases, as many as five drones have allegedly been in the area at the same time.
Some are believed to take off from the occupied north and others from airports in Turkey, according to the information available. The claims have not been independently verified, and no response from the Turkish side was included.
Giorgos Georgiou, president of Cyprus’ air traffic controllers’ union, told state television that Turkey had recently stepped up the activity, prompting the union to seek support from its European counterparts.
“What has changed the situation recently, and led us to request the assistance of the European union, is that Turkey has intensified these actions,” Georgiou said.
He said the unmanned aircraft were flying close to both airports and near critical air corridors used by passenger planes.
“They fly at altitudes that affect civil aviation,” he said. “They fly at heights and in areas that obstruct the smooth descent of aircraft approaching to land, and often our departures as well.”
What does this mean for passengers?
For the average traveller, this does not mean planes are landing blindly or that Cyprus’ airports have become unsafe overnight. Air traffic controllers monitor aircraft movements and intervene when a possible conflict or obstruction appears.
But every unidentified or unexpected aircraft creates another problem they must manage, potentially forcing changes to a plane’s approach, departure or route at a time when Cyprus’ skies are already extremely busy.
Georgiou said controllers sometimes handle close to 1,800 flights a day within the Nicosia Flight Information Region, or FIR. The FIR is the large area in which Cyprus provides flight information and air traffic services to civilian aircraft.
Controllers are doing everything possible to keep flights moving safely, he said, but warned that the combination of heavy traffic and repeated drone activity increases the pressure on staff.
“When you have an enormous workload, mistakes are human,” Georgiou said. “Something can escape your attention.”
His warning is likely to concern anyone who regularly uses Larnaca or Paphos airport, particularly during the busy summer travel period. Even when a drone does not come dangerously close to a passenger aircraft, its presence in a protected flight path can complicate the careful sequencing of planes arriving and departing.
European assistance requested
The air traffic controllers’ union has called on European aviation and civil aviation bodies to help restrict what Georgiou described as “dangerous and illegal activities” by Turkey within the Nicosia FIR.
He added that similar tactics were being used in connection with the Athens FIR.
The warning comes as President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman hold discussions on the Cyprus problem. Although the talks and the drone activity are separate issues, the timing highlights the gap between diplomatic efforts on the ground and continued tension in the air.
