Passenger traffic in May reaches 78% of record 2019 levels

Increased passenger arrivals continued in May, airports operator Hermes said on Wednesday as flights from Larnaca and Paphos June are expected to increase further in June.

There are currently 645 flights a week, which is set to rise to 704.

According to Hermes, 885,000 passengers travelled to and from Larnaca and Paphos airports in May, an increase of 634,000 passengers compared to the same month in 2021.

“Larnaca Airport’s total traffic for May was 558,000 (290,000 arriving and 268,000 departing) passengers,” Hermes Airports said ‘.

The best performing markets were the UK with 141,000 passengers and Greece with 104,000, followed by Germany (47,000), Israel (30,000), Sweden (29,000), Austria (28,000), Poland (24,000), Denmark (19,000), Romania (13,000) and Hungary with 12,000 passengers.

The total traffic for Paphos Airport was 325,000 (167,000 arrivals and 157,000 departures) passengers.

The best markets were the UK with 160,000 passengers, followed by Poland with 24,000, Greece (23,000), Israel with 20,000, Italy (16,000), Germany (10,000), Hungary and the Netherlands (9,000) each, France (8,000) and Jordan with 7,000 passengers.

Passenger numbers in May reached 78.3 per cent of those in the corresponding month in 2019, “a year in which a record passenger traffic was recorded at Larnaca and Paphos airports,” Hermes Airports said.

“Specifically, in the first five months of the year, approximately 2.5 million passengers travelled to and from Larnaca and Paphos airports, which is two million passengers more than in the corresponding period in 2021, and 73 per cent of the traffic in the same period in 2019,” it said.