Israel suspends commercial flights to Paphos in Cyprus, reasons unspecified

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NICOSIA (Reuters) -Israel has suspended Israeli commercial flights to the city of Paphos in Cyprus, Cypriot officials said on Monday, for unspecified security reasons.

Domestic security agency Shin Bet ordered the suspension of flights to the airport, which caters mainly to charter traffic on the western coast of Cyprus, late on Sunday, media reports from Israel said.

The move is unlikely to affect Israeli arrivals to the island since the amount of air traffic from Israel to Paphos is small compared to incoming traffic to Larnaca, Cyprus’s largest air terminal. Israel is a key tourist market for Cyprus, accounting for more than 10 percent of arrivals in 2023.

“The Republic of Cyprus is aware of the change in scheduling, for security reasons, of Israeli companies from and to Paphos airport. This happened some days ago,” a Cypriot official told Reuters.

“Flights (from Israel) are continuing normally to Larnaca,” the official added, saying they did not know the precise reason for the decision.

Another Cypriot official suggested the move was simply a security recalibration for Israelis to use just one location.

“We were informed the Israelis decided they wanted to come and go from one airport, that of Larnaca,” Victor Papadopoulos, head of the Cypriot President’s press office, told local Sigma TV.

Paphos, which is about a 90 minute drive from Larnaca airport, is the smallest of Cyprus’s two air terminals and abuts a military base slated for an upgrade by the U.S.

According to its winter flight schedule available online, there are up to 10 flights a week from Tel Aviv and 7 flights a week from Haifa, compared to at least 60 flights a week to Larnaca.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas; Editing by Stephen Coates)