Paphos Chamber wants airport expanded

[Paphos Life]

The Paphos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government and airport operator Hermes to begin negotiations to expand the town's airport....

Read the article and chat about it below...

[memory man]

I hope the "Chamber" has enough money in "the pot" to do this expansion

[ApusApus]

And in which century will it be completed?


Shane

[2QuarterPints]

I have often wondered what they are doing with the old terminal building, usually when we are standing in a cattle pen!

[trevnhil]

Do they have 'cattle Pens' at Larnaca.? I didn't notice when I was last there.

[2QuarterPints]

Of all the many airports I have flown from, Paphos is the only airport that I have seen them at. However, I suspect they exist elsewhere as well. When they were introduced, I seem to remember it was to ease crowding in the Departure area, but they seem to use them most if not all the time now. Last plane out in June, with the place practically deserted, but we still had to go out to the pens. Refurbishing the old terminal might be an idea, then working a 2 terminal system. More staff would be needed but that will apply even if they just expand the one we now use.

[bromerzz]

Larnaca does not have the "cattle pen system".

[Anarita John]

I believe they were insisted upon by Ryan Air, who would not use the buses. Easyjet used to use the buses and it was fun in the days before seat allocation to be on the plane first, especially if the bus driver only opened one door of the bus.

The cattle pens are awful. We were once in them, when they first were erected for over an hour and I was quoted in the Cyprus Mail. However, they are no worse than at Manchester Airport where you can be held waiting on stairs with no aircon or windows for ages.

[Lofos-Jan]

I just see them as an extension of the waiting room - surely it's just another waiting area. Never spent more than 15/20 mins in that section and I am a regular flyer. I agree with John and have been frequently stuck on stairwells and in tunnels. Last July in Manchester we were stuck on the bus next to the plane. They locked us in as the plane was not ready and they refused to open the doors. It went on for an age and was pretty awful. There's something I prefer about a stroll in the fresh air across a small stretch of tarmac.

Jeanne

[Varky]

Larnaca does not have the "cattle pen system".

Larnaca is a far better terminal than Paphos. I suppose it is because the majority of scheduled flights of the large air carriers use that airport. There are direct bridges from the terminal to the aircraft and, failing the use of those bridges, it is a short walk to the aircraft. That short walk does not take place until the aircraft is ready to accept passengers. The restaurants and duty free shops are far more extensive than at Paphos. Having said all that Larnaca never seems to be crowded (not whilst I was there) to the same extent as Paphos, so it begs the question, why is Paphos so 'pokey' as compared with Larnaca as the passenger traffic does not appear to be vastly different, although someone will come up with statistics to prove me wrong.

[Kili01]

The airport used to be crowded on Wednesdays and Sundays, quieter on other days, but in the last year the number of additional flights coming from all over Europe come in on all days. I flew back in mid Jul on a Monday expecting the airport to be quiet. It wasn’t it was crowded. Departures were chaotic. Despite the number of departure gates available, clearly someone favoured the use of 13 and 6. They somehow managed to confuse passengers on 2 different flights both slated to depart from no 6.
Yes, I think Paphos airport needs extra space (with in the actual building) to accomodate exra flights, At the time the new airport was opened, several of us thought it was too small. But there was only so much money allocated for both airports. They were both being rebuilt,( Larnaca ready first). The greater amount of money was spent obviously on Larnaca which is the main airport here(as someone said) with airbridges included. Paphos was only envisaged as a small airport handling charter flights, mainly in summer. Hence it is now inadiquate for the amount of traffic using it.
Whether the radars and approach radar used by the ATC, to control aircraft approaching and landing have been updated to newer equipment is another question.
Dee

[josef k]

The budget airlines try to keep airport costs to a minimum. This is why they have cattle pens. It means a number of flights use only one gate, keeping gate costs down. The other airlines don't use them, and have higher ticket prices as a result.

[Kili01]

It was Ryanair who originally required them.Now I suspect that airport passenger handling staff are only too pleased to use the cattle pens to shunt passengers into while waiting for their budget airline flights...
I remember using the old terminal at this airport. It was also cramped and practically lacking in all basic facilities. It would probably need a lot of renovation now, I suspect to bring it up to a reasonable standard.
We were all very impressed when the new terminal was opened as it was modern, clean and had airconditioning and plenty of toilets!
Dee