Passenger traffic has exceeded 10 million passengers in Larnaka and Pafos airports, a milestone celebrated, by Hermes who manages the two airports.

The lucky passenger, a Latvian who permanently resides in Cyprus and was travelling from Larnaka to Brussels, received a bouquet of flowers and a free ticket.

In an event which followed Transport, Communications and Works Minister Marios Demetriades congratulated everyone who contributed “to this tremendous success.”

“What is need now, is to avoid complacency, continue the good teamwork and the positive results,” he pointed out.

On his part, Panayiotis Hadjipantelis, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hermes Airports, noted that “as much work has been required to increase the passenger traffic, equivalent work is needed to maintain and increase it.”

“The immediate tackle of the structural problems and malfunctions of the tourism sector must become an irreversible goal, along with the repositioning of our tourist identity,” he added.

Chief Executive Officer of Hermes Airports Eleni Kaloyirou, said that “the company does not perceive the prospect of developing the two airports through a mathematical approach.”  “On the contrary, we are particularly interested in quality and it is precisely for this reason that alongside our efforts to increase the passenger traffic we have also undertaken specific initiatives, have invested substantial amounts and have given special emphasis to the efforts of improving our services,” she noted.

It is noted that according to Hermes Airports’ estimations, 2017 annual passenger traffic is expected to see an increase of about 14% at both airports of the country, compared to the total passenger traffic recorder in 2016.