Filenews 25 September 2021 - by Adamos Adamou
Travel may still be significantly reduced due to the pandemic compared to 2019, which may justify less (but not non-existent) grumbling about ticket prices, but the Commission for the Protection of Competition is examining the issue of competition in air transport and specifically the prices of the most popular route for Cypriots, that of Larnaca – Athens.
According to information provided by "F", the PSC decided to conduct an investigation into this route, following reports that existed, during the pre-pandemic era, on the prices of air tickets and especially on what was in force at that time, in the summer season of 2019.
The same information says that the investigation is still ongoing and that the PSC is considering a violation of Articles 3 and 6 of the Competition Protection Law.
We note that Article 3 prohibits "all agreements between undertakings, all decisions by associations of undertakings and any concerted practice which have as their object or effect the obstruction, restriction or distortion of competition within the Republic", in particular those which consist in the direct or indirect fixing of purchase or selling prices or other terms of trade.
Article 6 prohibits the abuse of 'the abuse of a dominant position of one or more undertakings which hold or hold a dominant position on all or part of the domestic market of a product, in particular if that operation has the effect or potential effect' and, inter alia, the direct or indirect fixing of unfair buying or selling prices or other unfair trading conditions in the circumstances.
The Cyprus - Greece Business Association
As mentioned, the conduct of the investigation was decided after the then publications caused mainly due to the interventions made by the Business Association of Cyprus - Greece.
However, the president of the Association, Joseph Joseph, speaking to "F", explained that since the time when the problem emerged, the situation has normalized, with the addition and increase of routes, which, however, as he explained, due to the pandemic have been reduced again, due to the decrease in demand. He also said that now the "players" on this route have changed, but asked the Association, on behalf of the Association, for the airlines, to gradually restore the routes that existed before coronavirus, as the situation with the pandemic also seems to be normalizing.
CCCI and OEB
The president of OEB, Antonis Antoniou, also referred to the need to return to the pre-pandemic situation in his statements to "F", noting that, as far as business travel is concerned, what is troubling is not so much connectivity or prices at this stage, as the pandemic itself, since there are still restrictions that force travellers to quarantine.
For his part, CCCI President Christodoulos Agastiniotis admitted that steps have been taken regarding the country's air connectivity, but noted that there is still a problem for some destinations. He said the increase in direct flights to and from Cyprus will not only facilitate business, but also tourism, saying we are still not directly connected to destinations such as China and Saudi Arabia, while stressing the need to improve connectivity with Europe as well.
Data show gradual improvement in connectivity
It is worth noting, however, that in recent years significant steps have been taken to enhance connectivity, according to a recent announcement by the Ministry of Transport. The ministry referred to Eurostat data, according to which Cyprus recorded in August one of the smallest decreases in flights, compared to 2019, as a result of the ministry's cooperation with the Deputy Ministry of Tourism and Hermes Airports Ltd, which concern the connectivity of Cyprus with abroad.
Hermes Airports also reported recently, on the occasion of the analysis of data from the CyprusFlightPass, that this summer, "despite the continued reluctance of a significant portion of the population internationally to travel and the complicated compared to previous inspection procedures at airports, 50 airlines flew from Cyprus, out of the 70 that flew in 2019, while most of them will continue to fly to our country during the winter months".
