Cobalt, the Cyprus’ based airline, said that it plans to launch its flight schedule on June 1 which will include flights to London, Paris, Manchester, East Midlands, Glasgow, Cardiff, Dublin, Beirut, Tel-Aviv, Tehran, Athens, Thessaloniki, Iraklio and Chania.
“This is not where we stop,” the company’s chairman Gregory Diakou told reporters on Friday according to an emailed document. “While taking into account our passengers’ needs, new popular destinations are expected to be added to our flight programme by October”.The company, which said in February that it secured a capital injection from a Hong Kong-based investor and saw its first aircraft landing in Cyprus on Wednesday, is also “enthusiastic over its prospect of expanding into the Chinese market,” Diakou added.
“We are planning to increase our fleet by at least eight aircraft in 2017,” he said. “This implies expansion of our flight operations to other destinations in Europe, the Middle East and new markets, such as Asia”.
Cobalt opted to employ “mainly” workers from Cyprus and former Cyprus Airways employees make up a large portion of its staff, which numbers 145 and is soon expected to increase to 175, Diakou continued. “We are planning to employ in a few years over 500 staffers,” he said.
The airline’s chairman said that Cobalt is currently in the final stages of obtaining its air operator’s certificate from the Department of Civil Aviation, which is required to operate commercial flights.
