ALL OF Ryanair’s €20.99 one-way tickets for Larnaca and Paphos for flights between February and May were sold well before yesterday’s deadline.
The low-cost airline had presented the offer earlier this month, setting the deadline for bookings for January 12.
While the exact number of tickets on sale was not confirmed, Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said that the low cost carrier was extremely happy with the response of the public.
“Our routes have been selling well and this was the main reason why we decided to base two aircraft at Paphos” said McNamara.
Ryanair announced on Wednesday that it would base two aircraft at Paphos, offering 80 flights a week to 14 new destinations.
The flights for the new destinations were up for bookings on Wednesday but the routes from Paphos will start in April 2012.
The 14 new destinations are from Paphos to Patra, Chania, Frankfurt Hahn, Kaunus, Krakow, London-Stansted, Memmingen, Bergamo, Oslo, Pisa, Rome, Stockholm, Thessaloniki and Treviso.
The four existing routes from Larnaca to Barcelona, Brussels, Bologna and Düsseldorf have already been operational since last November.
The Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday one-way tickets from Paphos to London-Stansted starting this coming May vary between €47 and €60, while tickets in the summer are somewhat higher priced.
The Monday and Friday one-way tickets to Barcelona vary in prices below €30.
There are currently four low-cost airlines with routes to Cyprus airports, while charter flights from several companies are also scheduled during high tourist season.
With Cyprus airport charges long seen as the main stumbling block behind the apparently narrow operation of low cost airlines in Cyprus, the introduction of new measures by Hermes Airport and the state have been heralded as a bold move.
According to the new plan, airport charges will be reduced by €25 per passenger for airlines who bring in 250,000 or more visitors a year, with Hermes and the state sharing the subsequent cost.
The news of the expansion of Ryanair’s flight schedule in Cyprus was also positively welcomed by private bus companies.
Pambos Kapnos, whose company has dominated the airport shuttle service between Nicosia and Larnaca airport, said that he was already planning to launch a new service linking Paphos airport with other cities.
“Clearly more flights will lead to an increase in the influx of tourists and we are already in contact with Ryanair to set up another service linking Paphos airport not just with Nicosia but with other cities also” said Kapnos.
Cyprus Mail
