Ioannina will have a connection with Cyprus from next February, after the agreement that was "closed" with the airline TUS, which has already announced the first dates of the flights.
A delegation of organizations that worked in this direction, the Municipality, the Hoteliers Association, as well as the Region of Epirus, visited Cyprus last week, and today they gave a joint press conference at the City Hall.
The airport of Ioannina has been operating for 86 years, said the mayor, Thomas Begas and stressed that the municipal authority believed more than anyone else in the past in its development prospects, so, after persistent effort, it managed to unite the local authorities for its utilization, as an infrastructure tool for the development of the place.
The mayor also addressed the issue of operating facilities at the airport, for refueling, urging the government to meet the schedules set by itself.
In conclusion, he made special mention of another aspect of the mission in Cyprus, the "diplomacy of the cities". For the Municipality of Ioannina, as Mr. Begas said, the "diplomacy of the cities" is based on three axes: the tourist promotion of the destination Ioannina, the promotion of the university and its facilities, the business connection of local companies with those of other cities.
The governor of Epirus, Alexandros Kachrimanis, for his part, pointed out the need to speed up the necessary actions for the installation and operation of the fuel supply system at Ioannina airport and stressed that the reason that flights from Larnaca will begin in February 2018 and not immediately is the absence of tanks.
The General Secretary of the Hoteliers Association, Stathis Sioutis, stated that he was "completely satisfied with the multiple benefits that the agreement will bring to the region" and thanked the Region, the Municipality, the university and in general all those who participated in the mission.