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I would firstly like to welcome
to Cyprus all participants from abroad. It is a great honour for us to host
today’s Conference and have amongst us distinguished guests, such as Regional
Director of the European Office of the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO), Mr Nicolas Rallo, and the Director General of
EUROCONTROL, Mr Eamonn Brennan.
Today’s Conference takes place
at a very crucial time for aviation, and I would like to congratulate the
Flight Safety Foundation and the European Association of Aviation Training
and Education Organization (EATEO) for their initiative to organise this
event, which gives the opportunity to all competent organisations and
authorities to discuss the impact of the pandemic on the fragile sector of
aviation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Over the last two years, the
pandemic of COVID-19 raised the need for a different approach of addressing
the major challenges. Cyprus, a remote island state located on the frontier
of the European Union, relies on aviation for its connectivity needs. Due to
this, and as a result of the series of measures taken against COVID-19,
Cyprus suffered the devastating consequences caused to the aviation sector by
the pandemic.
The Cyprus economy is heavily reliant
on air transport with aviation and tourism contributing more than 20% of
Cyprus’ GDP. The restrictions imposed on the fundamental right of freedom of
movement in the EU halted the 2019 dynamic developed in the aviation and
tourism sector and forced the Cyprus Government to take radical and
courageous measures back in 2020 for the closing and reopening of the
airports. The aim of those measures, besides protecting public health, was to
assist the restart and recovery of the tourism industry and the economy.
Nevertheless, and despite the
serious downturn, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works,
following a very focused and effective management strategy in mitigating
against the impacts of the pandemic, managed to rank Cyprus as the 6th state
in Europe with the lowest percentage decrease in aviation movement. We
achieved this by offering airlines an intuitive incentive scheme that allowed
them to include new routes to and from Cyprus and share the risk with the
Government.
Air connectivity, both at
national and European level, lays in the top priorities of our
administration. In this context, the Ministry has undertaken an initiative in
the EU, promoting the Declaration for Air Connectivity, which aims at the
recovery of the air transport sector from the impacts of the pandemic. We are
pleased to see our initiative been welcomed by 12 of our counterparts in the
EU.
At the same time, we aim at
improving Cyprus’ connectivity by creating an attractive environment for
airlines to support them in their decisions to extend their flight schedules.
On this note, we welcome the addition of the new destinations Cyprus is now
connected to, namely Brussels, Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Marseille,
and others in Central Europe and in the Scandinavian countries.
Fortunately, our efforts seem
to bear fruits. As it appears from the passengers’ traffic statistics in
2022, arrivals at Larnaka and Pafos Airports are very encouraging. In April
2022, almost two hundred ninety thousand tourists arrived in Cyprus, compared
to only thirty-eight thousand in April 2021. The first quarter of 2022, five
hundred thirty-four thousand tourists travelled to Cyprus, reaching the 77,7%
of the arrivals of the same period of 2019. Initial statistics for May also
show that arrivals will steadily increase, in view of the summer holiday
period. We are positive that this year’s statistics will be improved, despite
the sad development with the Russian war in Ukraine and the possibility of a
new outbreak of the pandemic in the near future.
In the area of Air Navigation
Services, our Ministry has taken onboard a very ambitious and significant
program for the upgrading of both our infrastructure and the quality of the
service offered to the airspace users, the airlines. Depside the financial
restrictions introduced at EU-wide level, on the air navigation service
costs, with the support of the Government, our Ministry is engaged in an
investment program that includes, among others, the transition to a new ACC
building that hosts also a new ATM system, the development of an approach
radar service for Larnaka airport, the comprehensive upgrade of our airport
navigation equipment and last but not least an upgrade of the capacity of our
airport building infrastructure.
Distinguished guests,
Unfortunately, Cyprus has
another particularity to deal with when it comes to safety in air transport.
As you all know, Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and illegally occupies ever
since approximately one third of our territory and refuses any diplomatic
effort for reaching a just and fair solution in the context of the EU and
international law. Turkey’s illegal actions in Nicosia’s FIR prevents the
smooth functioning of air traffic and puts additional obstacles in our effort
to safeguard flight safety in our airspace.
I would like to reassure you
that President Anastasiades and the Greek-Cypriot side continue their
struggle to end Turkey’s provocative stance and re-assume the negotiations
that will lead to a solution to the Cyprus problem as described in the relevant
UN Resolutions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We promote various policies
that will help us build a strong foundation in the air transport sector. We
acknowledge that we must continue improving our services and design an
alternative tourist product that will stand out among our competitors. We are
working towards ensuring an attractive environment for the airlines to
include Cyprus in their schedule and increase Cyprus’ air connectivity.
Allow me once again to
congratulate the Flight Safety Foundation and EATEO for putting together this
conference. I am sure that a constructive discussion will be held today with
the exchange of important views that will help set the strategy in a
potential future crisis.
Thank you for your attention.
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Note:
The address was delivered, on behalf of the Minister, by the Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, Mr Stavros
Michael.
(MKy)
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