Cyprus Attracts Tourists with New Airport

It now seems that Cyprus has opened an ultra modern airport that it hopes will boost its failing tourism industry and its prospects of becoming a regional transport hub. Cypriot President, Demetris Christofias, opened the new Larnanca terminal, which was built by a consortium of French and Cypriot companies. The opening of the terminal was kicked off with a ceremony that attracted some 2,000 guests, including the French European Affairs Minister Pierre Lellouche.

Demetris Christofias said that today will serve as a landmark in the history of tourism for this island’s infrastructure in general. He went on to say that this work plays a significant role in upgrading Cyprus to a main transit hub in the coming decades.

The high tech terminal is 100,000 square meters, which is four times larger than its predecessor, which is located just a couple of kilometers away on the island’s south coast. The old terminal had originally been built as a makeshift facility in February of 1975 after the island’s only airport, located in Nicosia, was caught up in a no man’s land following the Turkish invasion eight months earlier.

The Larnacca airport now has double the capacity to handle passenger traffic of up to 7.5 million people annually. Key features include 67 check in counters, 16 air bridges, parking for 2,650 vehicles, and a departure and arrivals situated on different levels. It took nearly three years to build the new terminal at a cost of 656 million euros. This is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Cyprus. Hopefully it will help to bring in more traffic for the area.