After reading the article over at the Financial Mirror that Ryanair would include Larnaka in its list of destinations, I got to thinking… What does this mean for air travel to our lovely island?
Irish low cost airline, Ryanair, is the “third largest airline in Europe in terms of passenger number and the largest in the world in terms of international passenger numbers.” Would this mean we, as an island, would enjoy a boost in in-bound tourism? Would there even be cheaper tickets for students, young businesspeople and those of us who would fly so much more if we had the kind of offers available to those in other European countries?
There is of course the notion that they may just fall into suit with the rest of the airlines flying to and from Cyprus. Agreeing to pay ridiculously high airport taxes, and simply making money in a tight market with little to no choice of airlines, dropping prices just a little to keep up their image as the ‘low cost alternative’.
Another thing I am curious about is the response this will generate from the Cyprus Tourism Organization, whose latest campaigns have been aimed at the family and upper-class orientated travelers. Will they now target the student markets? The get-away market? Hmmm…
Excuse the rush in which this rant was written, but feel free to drop your opinions below.
Ryanair is scheduled to announce details of the decision to start flights to and from Cyprus today.
Update (19/08/10) : A senior airline official said Wednesday that flights to and from Belgium would be operated every Wednesday and Saturday and the cost of a basic one-way ticket would be about 35 euros, including all airport charges. The company also mentioned that they plan to offer 500,000 tickets at JUST 5 EUROS for travel to a number of destinations throughout September. A route connecting Cyprus to a western European airport is also scheduled to start in November and will be announced shortly.
