Nicosia International Airport

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The abandoned central terminal
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The abandoned central terminal
An abandoned Trident airliner on the tarmac
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An abandoned Trident airliner on the tarmac

Nicosia International Airport (IATA: NIC) is an abandoned airport. It lies to the west of the Cypriot capital city of Nicosia.

NIC used to be the principal airport for Cyprus from its initial construction in the 1930s as the Royal Air Force station RAF Nicosia until 1974. Principally a military establishment at first, the RAF quit the airfield in 1966 due to limited space brought on by vastly increasing civilian aircraft movements. In July 1974, Turkish Forces fought back at the Greeks in the wake of a coup d'etat aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece. As a result of the intervention, the Turkish came to occupy 37% of the island, splitting Cyprus into a de facto Turkish-administered northern sector (see also: Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) and the remaining southern areas controlled by the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus. NIC lies directly in the U.N. controlled Buffer Zone separating the two areas. It has been inoperable since 1974 due to the continued state of belligerency between the two sides.

Nicosia's two sectors (the Turkish North and the Greek South) are served by different and more recently opened airports: Ercan International Airport (ECN) for the north, and Larnaca International Airport (LCA) for the south. Due to the non-recognition of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", Ercan is not permitted by most countries to be a valid destination for a flight plan. The only international flights from Ercan are to Turkey.

There have been some plans for NIC to be reopened under U.N. control as a goodwill measure, but so far neither the Greek nor the Turkish Cypriots have seriously pursued this option.

[edit] References


International Airports in Cyprus
Paphos International Airport | Larnaca International Airport | Nicosia International Airport | Ercan International Airport
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