Filenews 9 January 2025
The two airports of Cyprus may be considered modern and their upgrade continues, but the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has been chasing us since 2019 for safety issues and, in fact, warned the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus of repercussions.
The letter of formal notice was sent on 16 November 2019 and compliance efforts have been made in the area of civil aviation oversight and security since then. It is noted that in November 2019 a compliance audit with the relevant EU regulation was carried out.
The inspectors made a leaf and feather the airports of Larnaka and Pafos on safety issues, starting from the slopes of the runways to the parking areas of the planes and the opening of their wings.
There was also an outdated procedure in the use of signals, which were still done by gestures instead of sophisticated methods.
During an inspection by representatives of the European Commission, 13 points/shortcomings that needed improvement were identified and compliance procedures were initiated.
On March 13, 2024, following a question by the MP of Larnaka, Christos Orphanides, the Minister of Transport, Alexis Vafeadis assured that "for the deficiencies identified, the Department of Civil Aviation (in cooperation with EASA) prepared a corrective action plan". He added that since then there has been a positive outcome to most of the findings. That is, from November 2019 until March 2024, not all the security issues raised during the relevant audit had been resolved, but some of them were pending. In the next paragraph, the minister became more specific, stating that "three findings remain open, for which actions are taken by the Department of Civil Aviation, in cooperation with other Services, such as the Fire Brigade". At the same time, he informed the Parliament that the relevant EU letter of formal notice was replied by the Republic of Cyprus on 16/1/2024.
Among the gaps identified were lack of clarification on the responsibilities of the local runway safety team, a lack of procedure for overloading activities, an outdated description of aircraft parking spaces "regarding" wing opening restrictions, outdated control tower frequencies as well as an outdated approach and use of gesture signals from airports. At the same time, there seems to have been a misunderstanding with the rescue and firefighting personnel with the flight crew in case of emergency, with what this could bring if necessary.
Fortunately, these problems seem to have been resolved (at least as can be seen from relevant texts). At the same time, the provider of rescue and firefighting services at the airport was re-inspected and found to have developed a comprehensive training programme.
Characteristic of the situation that prevailed and the misunderstanding between the involved Services is the fact that it was decided that for the purposes of better coordination and cooperation, a Memorandum of Understanding was prepared and signed between the Ministry of Transport and the Fire Service. The memorandum regulates the compliance of the Fire Brigade with any findings following the inspections that would be carried out. The memorandum was signed on 8 January 2024.
It is worth noting that in the context of a compliance check with the relevant EU regulation, a check was carried out on the slopes on the runway at Pafos airport. A security check was also scheduled for Larnaka airport.
Europeans have not confined themselves to airport security and, by extension, travellers, but have also shown interest in protecting fauna at airport limits. The screening at Paphos Airport was carried out in November 2023.
We asked for information on the above issues from the Minister of Transport, Alexis Vafeadis, who undertook to examine the issue and inform us. Answers to the safety issues raised are expected to be raised during a meeting of the parliamentary transport committee scheduled for January 16.
