The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Tourism are working hard in order for Cyprus to absorb the effects of the closure of the airspace for the Russian aircraft, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Giannis Karousos told KYPE, expressing the hope that these efforts will have Results.
Asked to comment on the situation in aviation after the decision to close European airspace for Russian aircraft, Mr. Karousos stated that The Cypriot authorities for 2022 estimated 1,3 million passengers to and from Russia (arrivals and departures), which would probably correspond to 15% of the country's total air traffic.
"We consider this move to be a given if the situation continues, it is lost," Karousos said, adding that the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Tourism "are working hard to improve the country's air connectivity."
"It is already something that brings results, in 2021 we had more destinations than we had in 2019," he added.
As he said, based on the statistics, it turned out that the way we managed the situation in the middle of the coronavirus, we had one of the lowest reductions in connectivity issues and "we work hard to increase routes to alternative destinations, to enter new destinations and new countries ». He added that "I believe we will bring results".
"The goal is to compensate for any losses we will have from the Russian and Ukrainian markets with other countries and destinations," he said, adding that the Ministry of Transport is working on connectivity and the Ministry of Tourism is working to promote tourism.
Saying that there is interest from several airlines, the Minister of Transport added that "we have been in contact with companies for a long time to give other options and open other destinations and we will do everything possible to absorb any negative effects. that this decision will have ".
He finally said that in the coming days "important announcements are expected on the issues of air connectivity of our country, which will have a positive sign", without giving further details.
In the meantime, before the decision was made to close the airspace to Russian aircraft, there were 20 flights a week, corresponding to about 6% to 6,5% of air traffic, while this percentage was expected to increase to 12% next month.