North airport passenger numbers up by almost a third

The number of passengers arriving at and departing from the north’s Ercan (Tymbou) airport increased by almost a third in the first nine months of 2023, compared to the same period last year.

Just short of 2.9 million passengers passed through the airport between January and September, 700,000 more than the previous year.

Meanwhile, a total of 19,375 aircraft landed at the airport in the first nine months of the year, up from 16,584 in 2022.

Serhat Ozcelik, general manager of the airport’s holding company T&T said he aims to reach four million passengers by the end of the year.

“Hopefully, once we are free of embargoes, our airport will be opened to international flights and our citizens will have direct flights abroad,” he said.

Just over six million passengers passed through Larnaca airport in 2022, while just shy of 3.2 million passed through Paphos airport in the same year, which was an all-time high for the west coast’s airport.