Cyprus Airways half-year results improve on 2019 figures

Local airline Cyprus Airways on Monday released a report detailing its performance during June 2023, during which it carried 59,110 passengers, doubling the figures from the same month of the previous year, when it carried 29,979 passengers.

“We are now in peak summer and all of our 18 destinations for this summer are operational,” Cyprus Airways Chief Executive Paul Sies said.

“With over 60 weekly flights to a variety of destinations, we have made sure to offer a great summer schedule for our customers,” he added.

Moreover, Sies explained that “congested airports and airways are themselves challenging”.

Furthermore, the Cyprus Airways CEO said that the use of wet leased capacity from third-party airline Nordica, helped the airline to increase its number of flights.

However, Sies noted that this has not always delivered the punctuality that the company expects and implements with its own fleet. “We apologise to anyone that has been touched or experienced such a delay,” Sies stated.

According to the report, in June 2023, the Cypriot airline operated 478 scheduled flights, up from 280 flights in June 2022, and improved its load factor by 3 per cent.

Compared to June 2019, which represents the most crucial benchmark, since that year represented a record period for Cypriot tourism and was not affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Cyprus Airways carried 44 per cent more passengers on its scheduled services and operated 34 per cent more flights.

With the June results now confirmed, the airline said that it is now in a position to announce its half-yearly figures.

During this period Cyprus Airways carried 260,000 passengers, including both scheduled and charter flights.

Compared with the 64,000 passengers carried during the corresponding period last year, Cyprus Airways grew its business by more than 300 per cent.

Through the period of January to June 2019 (pre-pandemic), Cyprus Airways carried 403,447 passengers.

“Over the last couple of months, we have worked tirelessly on a project to upgrade and renew our aircraft fleet,” Sies stated.

“We are now days away from welcoming the advanced Airbus A220 aircraft to our fleet,” he added.

Sies explained that “this will undoubtedly help us to offer a superior onboard travel experience to our passengers whilst improving our operational efficiency and environmental sustainability efforts”.

The A220 boasts a large and quiet cabin offering the widest economy seats and the largest overhead stowage in its class.

In addition, it also performs well in terms of fuel efficiency, with a 25 per cent reduction in fuel burn per seat and a 50 per cent less noise footprint than the previous generation of aircraft.

The aircraft also has around 40 per cent less NOx emissions than industry standards.

“With our new aircraft coming online, we will have more opportunities to absorb delays and deliver a better service to our guests”, the Cyprus Airways CEO concluded.