in-cyprus 28 February 2022 - by gavriella
Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides expressed on Sunday Cyprus’ support to measures discussed with EU counterparts during an informal videoconference, regarding, inter alia, humanitarian support to Ukraine and targeted restrictive measures against Russia.
As for the measure to shut European airspace to Russian planes, the Foreign Minister noted that Nicosia gives its consent without prejudice to its right to reconsider the decision, in case Turkey refuses to shut its own airspace. Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades also discussed the matter during a telephone call with the European Commission President.
An announcement by the Foreign Ministry says that the informal videoconference of EU Foreign Ministers was concluded on Sunday evening, with the participation of Kasoulides.
EU Foreign Ministers reviewed the situation in Ukraine and agreed on practical ways concerning the bloc’s reaction and its support to Ukraine, it is added.
“In particular, Foreign Ministers agreed, among others, to intensify efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and impose targeted restrictive measures on Russia, in the framework of SWIFT program. Additionally, they agreed to provide military equipment to Ukraine, and shut European airspace to Russian planes” it is added.
In his intervention, Kasoulides, who was in constant contact with the President of Cyprus, expressed Cyprus’ support to the measures under discussion and briefed his counterparts about the actions the country is taking to coordinate and provide humanitarian assistance, the announcement goes on.
“When it comes to closing the European airspace, the Foreign Minister noted that our consent is given without prejudice to our right to review and/ or revise the implementation of this decision, in case Turkey refuses to proceed with closing its own airspace and proceeds with instrumentalizing this European decision, in order to attract and/ or transfer Russian citizens to the occupied areas” of Cyprus, it is noted.
On the same matter, there was a telephone contact between President Anastasiades and European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, the announcement concludes.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
(CNA)
The Ministry of Transport and the Deputy Ministry for Tourism are striving to offset the impact of the airport traffic from Russia, after Cyprus along with the other EU member-states have closed their air space to Russian aircraft, following the crisis in Ukraine, Minister of Transport Yiannis Karousos has told CNA, expressing the hope that these efforts will bear fruit.
Speaking to CNA, Karousos said Cyprus estimated air traffic to and from Russia in the region of 1.3 million this year, which could amount to 15% of Cyprus total air traffic.
Russia has been traditionally Cyprus’ second tourist market following the UK.
“We believe that this (air traffic) will be lost if the situation continues,” Karousos said, noting that since the Covid pandemic broke out the Ministry has been working to improve the island’s air connectivity.
“This is yielding results and in 2021 we had more destinations compared with 2019,” the Minister added, pointing out that statistics showed that Cyprus had one of the lowest reductions in air connectivity.
As he said, “the aim is to offset the impact we will have from the Russian and the Ukrainian market with other destinations.”
Noting that there is interest from other air carriers, Karousos said “we are in contact with airlines to provide more options and other destinations and we are doing everything possible to offset any impact by this decision.”
Without elaborating, Karousos said there will be significant announcements concerning air connectivity in the coming days.
Furthermore, according to Cyprus airports, Cyprus expected 20 flights per week in March to and from Russia corresponding to roughly 6% to 6.5% of total air traffic, and flights were expected to rise to 12% of total flights in April.
