Larnaca International Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Larnaca International Airport
Διεθνές Aεροδρόμιο Λάρνακας

IATA: LCA – ICAO: LCLK
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Cyprus Dept of Civil Aviation
Serves Larnaca
Coordinates 34°52′30″N, 33°37′29″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
04/22 9,776 2,980 Asphalt
Statistics (2005)
Passengers 5,224,905
Aircraft movements 48,056
Cargo tonnage 37,529
Source: A-Z World Airports Online

|}Larnaca International Airport (Greek: Διεθνές Aεροδρόμιο Λάρνακας) (IATA: LCA, ICAO: LCLK) is an international airport located near Larnaca, Cyprus. Larnaca International Airport is Cyprus' main international gateway and the larger of the country's two commercial airports, the other being Paphos International Airport on the island's southwestern coast. The airport has one passenger terminal comprising two connected airside buildings and a larger common arrivals hall situated behind them landside.

The airport utilizes a single large apron for all aircraft. There are no jetways (boarding bridges), and so passengers are conveyed by bus between the terminal and the aircraft. This situation will improve when the replacement terminal comes online. The current infrastructure also feature a large engineering hangar, a cargo terminal, and separate facilities for fueling and provisioning light aircraft.

Contents

[edit] History

Larnaca Airport was hastily developed at the end of 1974 after the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey in the summer of the same year and the forced closure of Nicosia International Airport. The site on which it was built (which neighbours the Larnaca Salt Lake) had been previously used as an airfield in the 1930s and subsequently as a military installation by the British. The airport opened in February 1975 as a prefabricated set of buildings comprising a departures and arrivals hall and a control tower. The first airline to use the new airport was Cyprus Airways which operated Viscount 800s leased from British Midland. The initial runway was too short for jet aircraft. Cyprus Airways pre-existing fleet of Hawker Siddeley Trident 1 and 2s had been destroyed on the ground at Nicosia Airport by Turkish Air Force bombings. The second operator to start flights to Larnaca was Olympic Airways using NAMC YS-11s.

Larnaca Airport is often used as a hub by passengers traveling between Europe and the Middle East, and Cyprus's status as a major tourist destination means that numbers have steadily risen to over 5 million passengers a year. This is double the capacity the airport was first designed for. As such, a tender was put out in 1998 to develop the airport further increasing its capacity (see below). Already completed elements of the expansion include a new control tower, fire station, runway extension, and additional administrative offices. The surrounding road network was improved by upgrading the B4 road and by completing the A3 Motorway. A new Junction has been constructed near by the new Terminal. The terminal itself will be rebuilt some 500-700m West of current facilities, adjacent to the new control tower, with new aprons and jet ways. The old terminal building is slated to be partially demolished and refurbished as a cargo centre. The Concept Architectural design was developed by French architects at Aéroports de Paris with SOFREAVIA in France. Detail and Tender design was carried out in Cyprus with local Architectural Office FORUM ARCHITECTS and a large engineering team under the coordination of ADP. A large amount of controversy spurred by the local media surrounded the granting of the contract when it was put out to tender. A consortium led by BAA and J&P construction quickly pulled out when it did not receive assurances from the Cypriot Government that it would receive financial compensation in the event that Direct Flights were allowed between the Turkish occupied north of the island and the rest of the world. The contract was eventually hastily granted to the next best bidder, the French led 'Hermes' Consortium. This too, was not free of controversy, causing legal challenges by BAA and J&P, and adding further delays to a much needed project.

[edit] Development

A €650m upgrade of the Larnaca and Paphos airports has commenced,[1] representing Cyprus's first Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project.[2] The international tender was won by Hermes Airports, a French-led group. The consortium is made up of Bouygues Batiment International (22%) Egis Projects (20%), the Cyprus Trading Corporation (a local retail group-10%), Iacovou Brothers (a local contractor-10%), Hellenic Mining (10%), Vancouver Airport Services (10%), Ireland's Aer Rianta International (10%), Charilaos Apostolides (a local construction company-5%) and Aeroport Nice (3%).

Hermes Airports is to build new passenger terminals and extend the runways at both airports under a 25-year concession. Larnaca’s first phase (due for completion in 2008) will serve 7.5 million passengers a year. The arrivals hall was expanded in February 2006 by adding two luggage belts, bringing the total up to six, as well as an addition of a smoking area and a larger lounge. This was done as a temporary measure to enable the airport to handle passengers until the new terminal currently under construction nearby becomes available.

The second phase, to be completed in 2013, provides for the expansion of the new terminal to handle 9 million passengers a year, and for a 500-metre runway extension. The design for a new 98,000 m² terminal includes 16 boarding bridges and is intended to reflect the proportions of a medieval aqueduct located in the city.[3][4]

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Incidents and accidents

Main article: Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport
The crisis had began the previous day, when Youssef Sebai, editor of a prominent Egyptian newspaper and friend of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, was assassinated at the Nicosia Hilton hotel by two gunmen. PLO terrorists then hijacked a Cyprus Airways DC-8 plane taking several hostages. They forced the plane to approach several countries including Libya, Syria and Djibouti, but each time their request to land was refused, so the plane was forced to return to Larnaca Airport. Egypt then dispatched its entire antiterrorist squad aboard a Hercules C-130 to deal with the hijacking; however, doing so without the consent of the Cypriot government. On landing in Larnaca the commandos launched an all-out assault on the DC-8, even as Cypriot negotiators had secured the hostage-takers' surrender. Cypriot President Spyros Kyprianou and other senior officials observing the events on site were forced to retreat from the airport control tower after it was hit by bullets. The crisis ended after the Cypriot National Guard overpowered the Egyptian commandos. 15 members of of 74-man Egyptian anti-terrorist unit. There were no Cypriot fatalities. President Kyprianou offered reconciliation and apologies, but maintained that Cyprus could not have allowed the Egyptians to act. Frosty diplomatic relations between the two countries persisted for some time. Two Palestinian hijackers were swiftly prosecuted. They received death sentences, later reduced to life imprisonment.[6][7][8]
  • On 5 April 1988 a Kuwait Airlines Boeing 747 (Kuwait Airways Flight 422) was hijacked, while en route from Thailand to Kuwait. After forcing the plane to fly to Iran, the hijackers forced the crew to fly the plane back east to Algeria, but the plane landed in Larnaca for refuelling. Two Kuwaiti hostages were executed by the hijackers and their bodies were thorwn out on the airport’s runway. The hijacking ended in Algeria on 20 April 1988.[9]
  • As a result of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis, the Lebanese airline MEA evacuated its fleet to Larnaca International Airport.
  • Also as a result of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis, a Canadian military aircraft carrying Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canadian citizens fleeing the war, landed in Larnaca. Cyprus served as a safe haven for many nationals during the crisis. The Prime Minister was coming home from a visit to Afghanistan but landed in Lebanon to pick-up Canadians stranded, and took them back to Canada.
  • On 28 August 2007 three Filipino construction workers were injured when a complete 5 x 40 m concrete floor collapsed at the construction site for the new Larnaca International Airport passenger terminal.[10] [11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Foundation stone laid at new Larnaca Airport (English). Financial Mirror (2006-06-26). Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
  2. ^ Coleman, Gina. "Work on schedule at ‘world class’ airport", Travel & Tourism News, Al Hilal Publishing, May 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-16. 
  3. ^ CTC: Agreement between Hermes Airports and Cyprus Gov't for the development of airports- Report by the Cyprus Stock exchange. July 11, 2005 [1]
  4. ^ AIRPORTS: Anxious to improve visitors' first impressions - Financial Times December 19, 2006 [2]
  5. ^ "Terror and Triumph at Mogadishu", Time Magazine, Oct. 31, 1977. Retrieved on 2007-02-12. 
  6. ^ Rescuing Nationals Abroad Through Military Coercion and Intervention on Grounds of Humanity by Ronzitti, Natalino (p.40-41), 1985, Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff, ISBN 9024731356
  7. ^ Political Terrorism: Theory, Tactics and Counter-Measures, by Grant Wardlow, (page 60), 1989, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521368413
  8. ^ "Murder and Massacre on Cyprus", Time Magazine, Monday, Mar. 06, 1978. Retrieved on 2007-10-23. 
  9. ^ "Terrorism Nightmare on Flight 422 - Murder and zealotry meet in a jumbo jet", Time Magazine, Monday, 25 April 1988, [3]
  10. ^ "Hermes regrets accident at new Cyprus airport site", Financial Mirror, 30/08/2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-31. 
  11. ^ Hazou, Elias. "Three injured in accident at new Larnaca airport site", Cyprus Mail, 30/08/2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-31. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
International Airports in Cyprus