Cyprus Airways Quietly Ceases All Operations
Joe Cortez January 13, 2015
After 68 years of operation, the national air carrier for Cyprus has ceased all operations.
Cyprus Airways, the flag carrier of the island nation for which it was named, will fly no more. In a statement published to its website on January 9, the carrier announced its decision to “initiate the procedure for voluntary liquidation.”
The shutdown of Cyprus Airways was spurred by a European Commission ruling against the airline, reports BBC. The Commission ruled last week that the aid packages given to Cyprus Airways in 2012 and 2013 were unlawful, as the airline received a previous restructuring package in 2007.
A portion of the Commission press release reads:
Under the applicable EU guidelines on the rescue and restructuring of companies in difficulty, a company can only receive restructuring aid once over a period of ten years (“one time, last time” principle) … Cyprus has provided no evidence that Cyprus Airways faced exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances that would justify an exemption from this principle.
In order to remain in good standing, Cyprus Airways would have been forced to pay back over $76 million in financial aid.
“Cyprus Airways would like to warmly thank the millions of passengers who flew with the airline over the years, for their choice and support,” the airline stated on its website. “Special thanks are also expressed to the staff of the airline as well as its associates, whose professionalism and dedication were always at the service of the passengers.”
Although Cyprus Airways is no longer flying, the government of Cyprus intends to honor all of the tickets for future travel purchased by Cyprus Airways flyers. Flyers holding tickets for flights before September 1, 2015 are instructed to contact the Top Kinisis Travel Public agency for ticket re-issuance. The Cyprus Mail reports that more than 4,000 passengers were re-ticketed by the agency over the weekend.
According to France 24, all 560 employees of the national air carrier have been laid off. The Cypress Mail reports that the former employees are staging protests in front of the nation’s Finance Building, demonstrating against the conditions that caused the flag carrier to fold.
[Photo: Cyprus Airways Facebook]
Maybe the protestors should be thanking the Cypriot government for its unauthorised payments rather than criticising it. Without these payments the airline could have folded long ago.