Filenews 7 May 2025 - by Fanis Makrides
The position that the Police, and in particular its Passport Control Service (YAM) at Larnaca and Paphos airports, are doing the right thing to handle passenger control.
The reason for the official statement was events of the previous two months. The reason for cases in which there was overcrowding of arriving passengers, specifically in the area before passport control.
The issue, as our newspaper is informed, has already been dealt with by a representative of the managing company, as well as by the competent public official who is responsible for the execution of the contract of the airports of the Republic. Both appealed to the Police Force, in an effort to coordinate so that the hot tourist months, with particularly increased air traffic, are managed as best as possible.
Aid to the Ministry of Environment and Rural Development
However, a high-ranking member of the Police, who has a good knowledge of the events and spoke competently to our newspaper, assured that all appropriate actions are being taken in order for passport control to proceed smoothly on the part of the Aliens and Immigration Service (OM). The Police officer stressed that since the day before yesterday, the YAM teams at Larnaca and Paphos airports have been reinforced with eight police officers each. "A total of 16 police officers have been transferred to the Passport Control Center," he clarified. At the same time, he told us that additional overtime tasks have already been planned for airports in order for passenger passport control desks to be well staffed. He added that the YAM units at the airports will be further strengthened after the completion of the initiated process for the recruitment of police officers.
The two incidents
The senior police officer took a position on both incidents that occurred at the beginning of spring. As he said, both concern Paphos Airport. At the same time, he clarified that they have nothing to do with interactive kiosks and digital systems with touch screens that passengers are required to handle before passport control. These systems are managed by the Police Force.
He clarified that there was overcrowding at Paphos Airport, mainly due to the simultaneous arrival of flights. Initially, he said that two related incidents were recorded, one on March 29 and the other on April 1. "Indicatively, I would like to mention that on April 1 we had the simultaneous arrival of five flights – one with a delay – and the presence of 750 passengers in the passport control area," the police officer stressed. He added that earlier, on 29/3, there was a lot of passenger traffic, as on this particular day there were a total of 17 arrivals and 14 departures.
At 15 minutes
However, independent sources of information made it clear to "F" that the delays observed in the first two months of spring are not to such an extent that they have caused inconvenience to passengers. They talked about an average service time for arriving passengers that is 15 minutes.
Based on statistical data and analyses, it is estimated that tourist arrivals will reach particularly high levels this summer. Those who promote this position are based on the new record recorded by tourist arrivals in February and the first two months of the year. At the same time, they cite the new data announced by the Statistical Service in mid-March (17/3). Indicatively, for the period January-February 2025, tourist arrivals amounted to 245,860 compared to 212,995 in the corresponding period of 2024, recording an increase of 15.4%.
Already, competent services related to air traffic are holding informal meetings, in an effort to deal with any unforeseen events during the hot summer months without problems.
