This month Dutch low-cost carrier Transavia inaugurated its summer schedule of flights to Larnaca and Paphos on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in a network growth that emphasises the important growing role of tourism stakeholders in the route development process.
The airline, part of the Air France-KLM Group, is offering four flights per week between Larnaca and Amsterdam, two of which operate with an additional stopover in Paphos. The flights are carried out in codeshare with KLM which enables passengers to fly from Cyprus via Amsterdam to the airline’s wider network of destinations from its Schiphol hub.
According to airport operator Hermes Airports, the return of Transavia to Cyprus, is a result of the coordinated actions of the company in collaboration with the stakeholders of the tourism industry of the country and will help contribute to the efforts to increase the tourist flows into Cyprus from mainland Europe.
“The Netherlands is one of the developing markets in which we can see important opportunities and development prospects. Amsterdam has always been a favourite destination for the Cypriots and for this reason we are really pleased, as Cypriots will now have the opportunity to enjoy more frequently trips to the Netherlands,” said Wes Porter, chief executive officer, Hermes Airports during a special event to promote Transavia’s arrival in the Cypriot market.
Also speaking at the event, Her Excellency, the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Cyprus, Brechje Schwachöfer, expressed her satisfaction for this development. “The improvement of air connectivity between Cyprus and the Netherlands, contributes to the further strengthening of relations between the two countries and benefits the business communities as well as the people of both countries,” she said.
Transavia is currently scheduled to operate the flights through to the middle of November 2015, but subject to demand could extend to a year round operation on boost frequencies for next summer. “We believe very strongly in this route which we want to retain and grow further in the future,” said Hester Bruijninckx, vice president of sales, Transavia.
Transavia has served the Cypriot market for the past four summer seasons but this year’s services have an added importance as they mark the return of regular scheduled links between Cyprus and the Netherlands for the first time since the collapse of Cyprus Airways at the start of the year. The former national carrier had previously offered an up to daily service between Larnaca and Amsterdam, although frequencies had introduced notably prior to its closure in January 2015.
In our analysis we look more closely at annual O&D demand between Amsterdam and both Larnaca and Paphos over the past ten years.
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