Larnaca International Airport

Larnaca International Airport Διεθνής Aερολιμένας Λάρνακας Larnaka Uluslararası Havaalanı
IATA: LCA – ICAO: LCLK
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Hermes Airports Ltd
Serves	Larnaca, Limassol & southeast Nicosia
Location	Larnaca, Cyprus
Hub for	Aegean Airlines Blue Air Cobalt Air Small Planet Airlines[1] Tus Airways
Coordinates	34°52′44″N 033°37′49″E / 34.87889°N 33.63028°ECoordinates: 34°52′44″N 033°37′49″E / 34.87889°N 33.63028°E
Website	www.hermesairports.com
Map
LCA Location within Cyprus
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04/22 2,994 9,823 Asphalt
Statistics
Passengers (2015)[2] 5,407,248 Aircraft movements (2011) 50,329 Cargo tonnage (2008) 37,529
Source: Cypriot AIP at EUROCONTROL[3]

Larnaca International Airport (Greek: Διεθνής Aερολιμένας Λάρνακας Diethnís Aeroliménas Lárnakas Turkish: Larnaka Uluslararası Havaalanı) (IATA: LCA, ICAO: LCLK) is an international airport located 4 km (2.5 mi) southwest^[3] of Larnaca, Cyprus. Larnaca International Airport is Cyprus' main international gateway and the larger of the country's two commercial airports, the other being Paphos International Airport on the island's southwestern coast.

History

Larnaca Airport was hastily developed towards the end of 1974 after the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey on 20 July of the same year,^[4] which forced the closure of Nicosia International Airport. The site on which it was built (near the Larnaca Salt Lake), had been previously used as an airfield in the 1930s and, subsequently, as a military installation by the British forces. Larnaca International opened on 8 February 1975, with only limited infrastructure facilities and a prefabricated set of buildings comprising separate halls for departures and arrivals. The first airlines to use the new airport were Cyprus Airways using Viscount 800s leased from British Midland and Olympic Airways using NAMC YS-11s. Initially, the runway at Larnaca International was too short for jet aircraft.

Operations

The status of Cyprus as a major tourist destination means that air traffic has steadily risen to over 5 million passengers a year.^[5] This is double the capacity the airport was first designed for. For this reason, a tender was put out in 1998 to develop the airport further and increase its capacity (see below). Already completed elements of the expansion include a new control tower, fire station, runway extension, and additional administrative offices. The surrounding road network was improved by upgrading the B4 road and by completing the A3 Motorway. A new junction has been constructed near the new terminal. The new terminal was built some 500–700 m (1,600–2,300 ft) west of the old terminal, adjacent to the new control tower, with new aprons and jetways. The old terminal building is slated to be partially demolished and refurbished as a cargo centre, and is currently used as a private terminal for visiting heads of state, VIPs, and private aircraft operators.

The airport's geographic location in-between Europe, Africa, Russia and the Middle East facilitates it as an airline hub for traffic and flight operations between these locations.^[6][7][8][9] It currently holds domestic, regional and international passenger and cargo services by over 30 airlines.^[10] Notably, Gulf Air used to provide a non-stop service to New York-JFK twice a week.^[11]

Facilities

Top level entrance of the Airport

The airport has one primary passenger terminal. Departures are accommodated on the upper level, while arrivals at the ground level. A second "VIP terminal" also exists, which is used for visiting heads of state, some private aviation, and for cargo. The airport utilises a single large apron for all passenger aircraft. The concept architectural design of the passenger terminal was developed by French architects at Aéroports de Paris (ADP) with Sofréavia in France. Detail and Tender design was completed in Cyprus by 1998, with local architectural office Forum Architects and a large engineering team under the coordination of ADP. The design was later used as a base for the BOT projects of both Larnaca and Pafos International Airports though significant changes were made mainly on "value engineering" grounds. A large amount of controversy spurred by the local media surrounded the granting of the contract when it was put out to tender. A consortium led by BAA and Joannou & Paraskevaides (J&P) construction quickly pulled out when it did not receive assurances from the government of Cyprus that it would receive financial compensation in the event that direct flights were allowed between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the world. The contract was eventually hastily granted to the next best bidder, the French led 'Hermes' Consortium. This too, was not free of controversy, causing legal challenges by BAA and J&P, and adding further delays to a much needed project.

Upgrades

Gates inside the Airport

A €650m upgrade of the Larnaca and Paphos airports has been completed in 2006.^[12] The international tender was won by Hermes Airports, a French-led group. The consortium is made up of Bouygues Batiment International (22%) Egis Projects (20%), the Cyprus Trading Corporation (a local retail group-10%), Iacovou Brothers (a local contractor-10%), Hellenic Mining (10%), Vancouver Airport Services (10%), Ireland's Dublin Airport Authority (Aer Rianta International) (10%), Charilaos Apostolides (a local construction company-5%) and Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (3%). Hermes Airports built new passenger terminals and plans to extend the runways at both airports under a 25-year concession.

A new terminal building opened on 7 November 2009.^[13] It has 16 jetways (boarding bridges), 67 check in counters, 8 self check-in kiosks, 48 departure gates, 2,450 parking spots. The new terminal can handle 7.5 million passengers per year. Infrastructure also features a large engineering hangar, a cargo terminal, and separate facilities for fuelling and provisioning light aircraft. There is a second, smaller apron where cargo aircraft and private aircraft are often parked. There are also spaces for smaller aircraft for flying schools and privately owned aircraft separate from the main two aprons.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Athens, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Thessaloniki Seasonal: Heraklion, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini
Aeroflot	Moscow-Sheremetyevo
Aeroflot operated by Rossiya Airlines	St. Petersburg
Air Moldova	Chişinău
Air Serbia	Belgrade
airBaltic	Riga
Alitalia	Seasonal: Rome-Fiumicino
Arkia	Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion
Armenia Aircompany	Seasonal charter: Yerevan[14][15]
Austrian Airlines	Vienna
Azur Air	Seasonal charter: Moscow-Domodedovo[16]
Belavia	Minsk
Blue Air	Athens, Birmingham (begins 26 March 2017),[17] Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca (begins 9 April 2017),[18] London-Luton, Thessaloniki
British Airways	London-Heathrow Seasonal: London-Gatwick
Bulgaria Air	Sofia
Cobalt Air	Athens, Birmingham (begins 10 December 2016),[19] Chania, Heraklion, London-Stansted, Manchester, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Thessaloniki Seasonal: Dublin
Condor	Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich (all resume 3 April 2017)[20]
Danish Air Transport	Seasonal: Copenhagen (begins 20 May 2017)[21]
easyJet	Berlin-Schönefeld, Liverpool, London-Gatwick, Milan-Malpensa
easyJet Switzerland	Basel/Mulhouse
Edelweiss Air	Zürich
EgyptAir operated by EgyptAir Express	Cairo
Ellinair	Thessaloniki (ends 13 January 2017)[22] Seasonal: Moscow-Vnukovo (resumes 17 May 2017)[23]
Emirates	Athens, Dubai-International, Malta
Enter Air	Charter: Katowice, Mombasa, Salalah, Warsaw-Chopin[24][25][26]
Eurowings operated by Germanwings	Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart (begins 6 May 2017)[27]
Germania	Munich, Stuttgart (both end 3 January 2017)[28]
Gulf Air	Bahrain
Helvetic Airways	Seasonal charter: Bern, Zürich[29]
Israir Airlines	Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion
Jet Time	Seasonal charter: Aalborg, Billund, Norrköping, Örebro
Jet2.com	Seasonal: East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, London-Stansted (begins 5 April 2017),[30] Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw-Chopin
Lufthansa	Munich Seasonal: Frankfurt
Mahan Air	Seasonal charter: Tehran-Imam Khomeini[31]
Middle East Airlines	Beirut
Monarch Airlines	Birmingham Seasonal: Leeds/Bradford, London-Gatwick, London-Luton
Niki	Vienna
Nordwind Airlines	Seasonal charter: Kazan, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Ufa, Volgograd[32]
Norwegian Air Shuttle	London-Gatwick, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda Seasonal: Copenhagen, Helsinki Seasonal charter: Bergen, Stavanger
Novair operated by Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal: Gothenburg, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Pegas Fly	Seasonal charter: Yekaterinburg[32]
Pobeda	Moscow-Vnukovo
Qatar Airways	Doha
Qeshm Airlines	Seasonal charter: Tehran-Imam Khomeini[33]
Rossiya Airlines	Charter: Moscow-Vnukovo, St. Petersburg Seasonal charter: Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Samara, Tyumen, Ufa, Yekaterinburg[34]
Royal Jordanian	Amman-Queen Alia
Ryanair	Brussels
S7 Airlines operated by Globus Airlines	Moscow-Domodedovo
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal charter: Bergen, Gothenburg, Kristiansand, Luleå, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda, Trondheim, Umeå
Small Planet Airlines	Seasonal charter: Katowice (begins 26 April 2017), London-Gatwick, Manchester, Vilnius,^1 Warsaw-Chopin (begins 26 April 2017)[35][36]
Small Planet Airlines Germany	Seasonal charter: Harstad/Narvik (begins 29 May 2017), Jönköping (begins 21 August 2017), Sundsvall-Härnösand (begins 17 April 2017)[37]
SmartLynx Airlines	Seasonal: Tallinn (begins 5 May 2017)[38]
SmartWings operated by Travel Service	Seasonal: Prague
TAROM	Bucharest
Thomas Cook Airlines	Seasonal: Belfast-International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Glasgow, London-Gatwick, London-Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia	Seasonal charter: Billund, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Malmö, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda, Växjö
Thomson Airways	Seasonal: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted (begins 7 May 2017), Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
Transavia	Amsterdam
Travel Service	Seasonal charter: Bratislava[39]
TUIfly operated by Small Planet Airlines Germany	Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse (begins 9 April 2017), Berlin-Tegel (begins 13 April 2017), Düsseldorf (begins 8 April 2017), Frankfurt (begins 8 April 2017), Hamburg (begins 9 April 2017), Hannover (begins 13 April 2017), Leipzig/Halle (begins 7 April 2017), Munich (begins 7 April 2017), Stuttgart (begins 11 April 2017)[40]
TUIfly Nordic	Seasonal charter: Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Kalmar, Malmö, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Tus Air	Amman-Queen Alia (begins 1 February 2017),[41] Haifa, Heraklion, Rhodes, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion Seasonal: Karpathos (begins 24 June 2017), Kos, Mytilene (begins 24 June 2017), Patras (begins 26 June 2017), Samos, Skiathos (begins 24 June 2017)[42]
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev-Boryspil
Up operated by El Al	Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion
Ural Airlines	Krasnodar, Moscow-Domodedovo Seasonal: St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg
Vueling	Seasonal: Barcelona
Wizz Air	Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Iași, Katowice, Kiev-Zhulyany, Kutaisi, Sofia, Vilnius,^1 Warsaw-Chopin
Yamal Airlines	Seasonal charter: Moscow-Domodedovo

• ^1 Vilnius flights will be transferred to Kaunas airport in period between 14/07/2017 - 18/08/2017 as Vilnius Airport will be carrying out reconstruction of the runway^[43]

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
ASL Airlines Belgium	Athens
CAL Cargo Air Lines	Liège, New York-JFK, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion

Statistics

Busiest routes from Larnaca Int'l Airport, per week

Rank	Destination	Airport(s)	Winter 2016	Top carriers
1	Athens	ATH	109	Aegean Airlines, Blue Air, Cobalt Air, Emirates
2	Tel Aviv	TLV	68	Aegean Airlines, Arkia, El Al, Israir, Tus Air
3	London	GTW, LHR, LTN, STN	40	Aegean Airlines, British Airways, Blue Air, Cobalt Air, easyJet, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways
4	Moscow	DME, SVO, VKO	29	Aeroflot, Pobeda, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines
5	Thessaloniki	SKG	22	Aegean Airlines, Cobalt Air, Ellinair
6	Vienna	VIE	18	Austrian Airlines, Niki
7	Doha	DOH	17	Qatar Airways
8	Beirut	BEY	14	Middle East Airlines
9	Dubai	DXB	14	Emirates
10	Bucharest	OTP	13	Blue Air, TAROM, Wizz Air

Ground transport

The airport can be reached by car, taxi and public transport system. There is a shuttle bus system from/to both Limassol^[44] and Nicosia. Local buses are available at the airport to various locations in Larnaca.

Incidents and accidents

• On 13 October 1977, Lufthansa Flight 181, flying from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt, with 91 passengers and crew was hijacked by four Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) members, and was diverted and landed in turn at the airports in Rome, Larnaca, Bahrain and Dubai.^[45] The Boeing 737 was then forced to fly on to Mogadishu Airport, Somalia, where a German antiterrorist squad stormed the plane, killing three hijackers, arresting one and rescuing all passengers. The captain of the flight had previously been murdered by the lead terrorist.
• On 19 February 1978, Larnaca Airport was the scene of the Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport: a 1-hour gun battle between Unit 777, an Egyptian military counter-terrorism force, who had raided Larnaca International, and the Cypriot National Guard.
  The crisis had begun the previous day, when Youssef Sebai, editor of a prominent Egyptian newspaper and friend of Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, was assassinated at the Nicosia Hilton hotel by two gunmen as he was preparing to address the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization (AAPSO) conference being held at the hotel. The gunmen, a Jordanian and a Kuwaiti, opposed to the Sadat regime, took 50 hostages among the conference attendees, including two representatives of the PLO who happened to be attending the conference. Non-Arab delegates and women were released shortly. Yasser Arafat, with the Cypriot president's agreement, dispatched an unarmed force of 16 to assist with negotiations and any possible rescue operation.
  Through negotiations with the Cypriot government, the two attackers were allowed to board a plane to escape with their 15 remaining hostages, including the two PLO hostages. They forced the plane to approach several countries including Libya and Syria but each time their request to land was refused, so after refueling in Djibouti, the plane was forced to return to Larnaca Airport. Egypt then dispatched its entire antiterrorist squad aboard a C-130 Hercules to deal with the hijacking; however, they did so without the knowledge or consent of the Cypriot government.
  On landing in Larnaca, the commandos launched an all-out assault on the DC-8, even as Cypriot negotiators had secured the hostage-takers' surrender. Cypriot President Spyros Kyprianou and other senior officials observing the events on site were forced to retreat from the airport control tower after it was hit by bullets. Eventually the Egyptian commandos surrendered to the Cypriot forces. The two hijackers were persuaded by the British pilots to give up. The hostages exited the aircraft unharmed once the shooting was over. The Cypriots counted eight wounded. 15 members of the 74-man Egyptian Unit 777 died. President Kyprianou offered reconciliation and apologies, but maintained that Cyprus could not have allowed the Egyptians to act. Egypt and Cyprus each withdrew their diplomatic missions, and frosty relations between the two countries persisted for some time. The two hijackers were condemned to death by a Cypriot court, but the sentence was commuted by Kyprianou and the hijackers released.^{[46][47][48][49]}
• On 5 April 1988, Kuwait Airways Flight 422, a Kuwait Airways Boeing 747, was hijacked, while en route from Thailand to Kuwait. After forcing the plane to fly to Iran, the hijackers forced the crew to fly the plane further west to Algeria, but the plane landed in Larnaca for refuelling. Two Kuwaiti hostages were murdered by the hijackers and their bodies were thrown out on the airport's runway. The hijacking ended in Algeria on 20 April 1988.^[50]
• As a result of the 2006 Lebanon War, the Lebanese airline Middle East Airlines evacuated its fleet to Larnaca.
• Also as a result of the 2006 Lebanon War, a Canadian military aircraft carrying Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canadian citizens fleeing the war, landed in Larnaca. Cyprus served as a safe haven for many nationals during the crisis. The Prime Minister was coming home from a visit to Afghanistan but landed in Larnaca to pick up Canadians who had been evacuated from Lebanon, and took them back to Canada.
• On 28 August 2007, three construction workers were injured when a complete 5 m × 40 m (16 ft × 131 ft) concrete floor collapsed at the construction site for the new passenger terminal.^[51][52]
• On 29 March 2016, EgyptAir Flight 181, operated by Airbus A320-232 SU-GCB was hijacked whilst on a Flight from Borg El Arab Airport, Alexandria to Cairo International Airport. The aircraft landed at Larnaca.^[53] The hijacker claimed to be wearing an explosive belt, but it was later revealed to be fake.^[54]

References

1. http://www.fvw.com/german-airlines-speculation-over-condor-tuifly-talks/393/164210/11245
2. "Passenger Traffic".
3. "EAD Basic". Ead.eurocontrol.int. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
4. Larnaca Airport
5. SkyScanner: Larnaca Airport
6. Europe-Airports: Larnaca Airport Arrivals/Departures
7. Abacus: Regional airlines eye new Cyprus airport at Larnaca as a new hub
8. Cyprus-Profile: New airlines and flights to Larnaca Airport
9. World Airport Codes: Larnaca International Airport Destinations List
10. Centre for Aviation: Larnaca International Airport Glafcos Clerides
11. "TRAVEL ADVISORY; Gulf Air and Korean Air Begin New U.S. Routes". The New York Times. 1994-12-11. Archived from the original on 2015-01-05. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
12. "Foundation stone laid at new Larnaca Airport". Financial Mirror. 26 June 2006. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2006.
13. "Official Website for Larnaka & Pafos International Airports". Cyprusairports.com.cy. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
14. http://online-english.mouzenidis-travel.ru/avia/?state=search
15. http://www.airtickets.am/yerevan-larnaca-ru.php
16. http://www.anextour.com/search-samo.aspx?STATEINC=79&From=175
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18. Blue Air anunţă noi rute (Romanian)
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20. https://www.condor.com/us/book-plan/flight/timetable.jsp
21. http://ksb.apollo.se/cgi-bin/ksb2.cgi/www/bookingGuide/index.p?step1PageLayout=mini&brandCode=apollo&languageCode=swedish&marketCode=sweden&step1ShowTripCategoryCombo=false&tripCategoryCode=flightOnly&type=page&page=GuidePage&step1PageLayout=default&sid=c49e59cc868845788af55db7a9c3aca8
22. http://en.ellinair.com/avia/flightprogramtimeline#?
23. http://en.ellinair.com/avia/flightprogramtimeline#?
24. http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000223277/airlines-seek-kenya-s-approval-to-launch-flights
25. https://www.flightradar24.com/ENT1441/ba8e86b
26. https://www.flightradar24.com/ENT5203/bc290ae
27. https://www.eurowings.com/en/booking/new-routes.html
28. https://www.flygermania.com/en/flight-information/flight-schedule/
29. http://www.helvetic.com/hdc/charter/lca
30. http://www.jet2.com/timetable
31. https://www.facebook.com/metrotravelsophiatours/photos/pb.327918600617663.-2207520000.1449967198./782387905170728/
32. http://pegasys.pegast.ru/FlightSearch
33. http://www.orthodoxouaviation.com/page/qeshm-air
34. http://www.bgoperator.ru/price.shtml?flt=100410000049&flt2=100510000863
35. http://www.olympicholidays.com
36. https://www.smallplanet.aero/en/flight-schedule/1398?from=LCA&to=&date=&number=
37. https://www.smallplanet.aero/en/flight-schedule/1398?from=LCA&to=&date=2017-08-18&number=
38. http://flights.novatours.eu
39. http://www.fischer.sk
40. https://www.tuifly.com/en/index.html
41. http://tusairways.com/Destinations/flights-schedule
42. http://www.tusairways.com
43. http://www.vilnius-airport.lt/en/news/?id=1308353
44. "AirportShuttleBus.eu". AirportShuttleBus.eu. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
45. "Terror and Triumph at Mogadishu". Time Magazine. 31 October 1977. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
46. "The 1798 Battle of Larnaca Airport, Cyprus, and UK diplomacy." The GLORIA Center, Global Research in International Affairs, IDC Herzliya, http://www.gloria-center.org/2009/06/dimitrakis-2009-06-07
47. Rescuing Nationals Abroad Through Military Coercion and Intervention on Grounds of Humanity by Ronzitti, Natalino (p.40–41), 1985, Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff, ISBN 90-247-3135-6
48. Political Terrorism: Theory, Tactics and Counter-Measures, by Grant Wardlow, (page 60), 1989, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521368413
49. "Murder and Massacre on Cyprus". Time Magazine. 6 March 1978. Retrieved 23 October 2007.
50. "Terrorism Nightmare on Flight 422 – Murder and zealotry meet in a jumbo jet", Time M''agazine, Monday, 25 April 1988,
51. "Hermes regrets accident at new Cyprus airport site". Financial Mirror. 30 August 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
52. Hazou, Elias (30 August 2007). "Three injured in accident at new Larnaca airport site". Cyprus Mail. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
53. "SU-GCB description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
54. "EgyptAir hijack: Suicide belt worn by the hijacker was fake | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. Retrieved 29 March 2016.

External links

Media related to Larnaca International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for LCLK at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for LCA at Aviation Safety Network