Sustaining The Surge: How Cyprus Airports Are Powering Record Passenger Growth

Cyprus Airports continue to demonstrate strong and sustained passenger growth, driven by a balanced mix of established and emerging routes that reinforce the island’s position as a leading leisure destination. Over the past year, new and reinforced services led to a 12% increase in passengers, a new 13.75 million record.

Maria Kouroupi, Director of Aviation Development, Marketing and Communication at Hermes Airports, discloses the strategy behind its success and how momentum is continuing to build in underserved markets.

Which routes have contributed to the increase in passenger traffic?

We observe a very interesting mix of emerging and established destinations, contributing to last year’s growth and these are Tel Aviv, Haifa, Athens, London, Yerevan, Warsaw, Düsseldorf, Belgrade, Chisinau, and Thessaloniki. These routes mainly serve leisure travellers, consistent with the fact that 70% of passenger traffic at Cyprus Airports consists of individuals visiting the country for tourism.

What are the recent additions to your route network this winter season? Looking ahead, which new routes do you see as having potential for growth?

Looking ahead, we identify a momentum for certain markets, such as the Spanish market. While a new year-round operation from Barcelona has been introduced, Madrid remains unserved, with around 15,000 connecting passengers. Other unserved European capitals from Larnaka with growth opportunities include Dublin and Tallinn, with approximately 17,000 and 11,000 connecting passengers respectively.

The German market also shows strong growth potential, particularly from unserved cities like Cologne, Bremen, and Dresden from Larnaka, as well as Frankfurt, Nuremberg, and Leipzig from Pafos. Moreover, we identify opportunities in the region of France, particularly in Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes and Nice, along with certain regions of Italy including the North and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

Looking beyond the European continent, India is a promising market, with potential for both leisure and business traffic as well as traffic from neighbouring countries of Cyprus. The indirect traffic exceeds 30k total passengers, with Delhi having the biggest share.

Alongside new additions to your route network, are you also seeing an increase in load factors? If so, which efforts have driven this growth?

Our close collaboration with airline partners and other stakeholders has enabled the optimization of capacity and the introduction of destinations that align strongly with current market demand. As a result, load factors across the network have remained steadily satisfactory. Our joint efforts with local stakeholders such us regional tourism boards, supported this with extensive promotion of new routes through targeted marketing campaigns. These collaborations ensure that both airlines and destinations are effectively promoted, by raising awareness and driving travel demand.

Do you see a sustained passenger growth continuing into 2026, and how will seasonality impact this?

In 2025, passenger traffic set a new all-time record for the third consecutive year, reaching 13.75 million. This represents a 12% increase over 2024, with steady growth expected to continue into 2026.

While seasonality remains a concern, Hermes Airports supports year-round airline operations and winter growth through our route incentive program, which among other actions, reimburses up to 40% of airport costs for new services. Beyond that, the joint marketing initiatives with tourism stakeholders highlight the island’s year-round appeal, promoting Cyprus’s authentic and diverse experiences that can be enjoyed under pleasant weather conditions throughout the year.

These combined actions have contributed to increased capacity and demand during the off-peak months. This winter season, available seats have increased by 18%, with airlines offering a total of 5 million seats, the highest winter season capacity recorded at Cyprus airports.

How are Larnaka and Pafos airports developing to accommodate rapid growth?

The ongoing Phase II development works at both Cyprus Airports will increase their capacity by 2027, with Larnaka Airport’s capacity reaching 12.4 million passengers per year and Pafos Airport’s reaching 5 million passengers.

At Larnaka Airport, the works include constructing a new annex with walk-on/walk-off gates, additional aircraft parking stands, extra baggage-claim belts, new passport-control and security-screening areas, and an expanded commercial area.

At Pafos Airport, the terminal’s capacity will increase by approximately 30%, and the southern parallel taxiway will be extended to improve operational flexibility.

For more information on Hermes Airports, visit the airport’s Routes 360 profile.