Filenews 7 November 2024
Chaos on Wednesday afternoon (06/11) at Paphos airport with hundreds of passengers waiting countless queues to pass through the relevant control and resenting the prevailing situation. According to Filenews, the queues stretched outside the airport and reached the airport parking lot.
The Minister of Transport, Mr. Alexis Vafeadis, was informed about the issue, who was outraged since with his intervention they had been staffed with police officers and generally with staff of enough posts to eliminate or reduce to a bearable level the inconvenience and disorder observed.
The Minister has requested information and intends to investigate the matter so that responsibilities can be assigned, if and when they are found.
It is noted, however, that one of the reasons that the minister had mentioned before Parliament (during the examination of his ministry's budget), is related to the fact that some of the travel companies arrange from hotels the passage of their customers through the checkpoints, so in some cases, it happens that 5-6 buses arrive at the airport at the same time. At the same time, other arriving or departing passengers attempt to pass through the control, so problems are created.
However, the minister will not limit himself to the above explanation, but intends to investigate whether there are other reasons that lead to exposure not only to the ministry but also to the country by the situation created.
According to the latest information, the problem was created or even exacerbated by the fact that 11 flights were registered at about the same time and all passengers had to go through boarding control. The posts appear to have been staffed but not all points were available, which concerns tour operators, who pay a fee to open points in order to serve their customers.
