Cyprus stonewalled on Greek airline market
Eager to open up the Greek airline market to Cypriot firms ahead of scheduled liberalization in January 2003, Cyprus has been fended off by protectionism favoring Greece’s ailing Olympic Airways, a report said yesterday. The Cypriot Sunday Mail paper said Cyprus has for over a year been trying to alter a bilateral agreement with Greece to allow private Cypriot carriers to operate routes to Athens and Thessaloniki from Paphos and Larnaca. Nicosia wanted this to come into effect on April 1 and June 1, respectively. A gap in the Greek market opened after the collapse, in November, of Greece’s private Axon carrier. But the Cypriot government has received no concrete response. «It is likely they are stalling because of Olympic Airways,» a Cypriot source was quoted as telling the paper. Cyprus’s private Helios airline is particularly interested in the Greek market, and wanted routes opened up to gain an edge ahead of the January 1 market liberalization, the Mail said.
