Larnaca International Airport

Larnaca International Airport Διεθνής Aερολιμένας Λάρνακας Larnaka Uluslararası Havaalanı
IATA: LCA – ICAO: LCLK
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Hermes Airports Ltd
Location	Larnaca, Cyprus
Hub for	Aegean Airlines
Coordinates	34°52′44″N 033°37′49″E / 34.87889°N 33.63028°E / 34.87889; 33.63028Coordinates: 34°52′44″N 033°37′49″E / 34.87889°N 33.63028°E / 34.87889; 33.63028
Website	www.hermesairports.com
Map
LCA/LCLK Location within Cyprus
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04/22 2,994 9,823 Asphalt
Statistics
Passengers (2014)[1] 5,320,173 Aircraft movements (2011) 50,329 Cargo tonnage (2008) 37,529
Source: Cypriot AIP at EUROCONTROL[2]

Larnaca International Airport (Greek: Διεθνής Aερολιμένας Λάρνακας; Turkish: Larnaka Uluslararası Havaalanı) (IATA: LCA, ICAO: LCLK) is an international airport located 4 km (2.5 mi) southwest^[2] of 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.

Layout

The airport has one primary passenger terminal. Departures are accommodated on the upper level, while arrivals at the ground level. A second "VIP terminal" also exists, which is used for visiting Heads of State, some private aviation, and for cargo.

The airport utilises a single large apron for all passenger aircraft. There are 16 jetways (boarding bridges), connecting the main terminal with aircraft, while there is a provision for utilization of shuttle buses to convey passengers during hours of extreme traffic. Infrastructure also features a large engineering hangar, a cargo terminal, and separate facilities for fuelling and provisioning light aircraft. There is a second, smaller apron where cargo aircraft and private aircraft are often parked. There are also spaces for smaller aircraft for flying schools and privately owned aircraft separate from the main two aprons.

History

Old Airport terminal closed down in 2008

Larnaca Airport was hastily developed towards the end of 1974 after the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey on 20 July of the same year,^[3] which forced the closure of Nicosia International Airport. The site on which it was built (near the Larnaca Salt Lake), had been previously used as an airfield in the 1930s and, subsequently, as a military installation by the British forces. Larnaca International opened on 8 February 1975, with only limited infrastructure facilities and a prefabricated set of buildings comprising separate halls for departures and arrivals. The first airlines to use the new airport were Cyprus Airways using Viscount 800s leased from British Midland and Olympic Airways using NAMC YS-11s. Initially, the runway at Larnaca International was too short for jet aircraft.

Nowadays, Larnaca Airport is used as a hub by passengers travelling between Europe and the Middle East, though between 1994-1996 a twice-weekly Gulf Air flight provided non-stop service to New York JFK airport.^[4] The status of Cyprus as a major tourist destination means that air traffic has steadily risen to over 5 million passengers a year. This is double the capacity the airport was first designed for. For this reason, a tender was put out in 1998 to develop the airport further and increase 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.

The New Larnaca International Airport opened in 2010.

A new Junction has been constructed near the new terminal. The new terminal was built some 500–700 m (1,600–2,300 ft) west of the old terminal, adjacent to the new control tower, with new aprons and jetways. The old terminal building is slated to be partially demolished and refurbished as a cargo centre, and is currently used as a private terminal for visiting heads of state, VIPs, and private aircraft operators.

The concept architectural design of the passenger terminal was developed by French architects at Aéroports de Paris (ADP) with Sofréavia in France. Detail and Tender design was completed in Cyprus by 1998, with local architectural office Forum Architects and a large engineering team under the coordination of ADP. The design was later used as a base for the BOT projects of both Larnaca and Pafos International Airports though significant changes were made mainly on "value engineering" grounds. 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 Joannou & Paraskevaides (J&P) construction quickly pulled out when it did not receive assurances from the government of Cyprus 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.

New terminal

A €650m upgrade of the Larnaca and Paphos airports has been completed.^[5] 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 Dublin Airport Authority (Aer Rianta International) (10%), Charilaos Apostolides (a local construction company-5%) and Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (3%). Hermes Airports built new passenger terminals and plans to extend the runways at both airports under a 25-year concession.

A new terminal building opened on 7 November 2009.^[6] It has 16 jetways (boarding bridges), 67 check in counters, 8 self check-in kiosks, 48 departure gates, 2,450 parking spots. The new terminal can handle 7.5 million passengers per year.

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 m (1,600 ft) runway extension. The design of the new 98,000 m² (1,050,000 sq ft) terminal includes 16 boarding bridges^[7][8]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Seasonal charter flights

Cargo

Ground transport

Lane outside the Airport only available for shuttle buses.

The airport can be reached by car, taxi and public transport system. There is a shuttle bus system from/to both Limassol^[11] and Nicosia.

Public transport buses are available from bus stops outside the airport to various locations in Larnaca where one may change bus routes to other destinations in the island. There are also direct intercity buses serving the airport linking other towns and cities with Larnaca airport.

Incidents and accidents

• On 13 October 1977, Lufthansa Flight 181, flying from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt, with 91 passengers and crew was hijacked by four Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) members, and was diverted and landed in turn at the airports in Rome, Larnaca, Bahrain and Dubai.^[12] The Boeing 737 was then forced to fly on to Mogadishu Airport, Somalia, where a German antiterrorist squad stormed the plane, killing 3 hijackers, arresting one and rescuing all passengers.
• On 19 February 1978, Larnaca Airport was the scene of the Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport: a 1-hour gun battle between Unit 777, an Egyptian military counter-terrorism force, who had raided Larnaca International, and the Cypriot National Guard.
  The crisis had begun the previous day, when Youssef Sebai, editor of a prominent Egyptian newspaper and friend of Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, was assassinated at the Nicosia Hilton hotel by two gunmen as he was preparing to address the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization (AAPSO) conference being held at the hotel. The gunmen, a Jordanian and a Kuwaiti, opposed to the Sadat regime, took 50 hostages among the conference attendees, including two representatives of the PLO who happened to be attending the conference. Non-Arab delegates and women were released shortly. Yasser Arafat, with the Cypriot president's agreement, dispatched an unarmed force of 16 to assist with negotiations and any possible rescue operation.
  Through negotiations with the Cypriot government, the two attackers were allowed to board a plane to escape with their 15 remaining hostages, including the two PLO hostages. They forced the plane to approach several countries including Libya and Syria but each time their request to land was refused, so after refueling in Djibouti, the plane was forced to return to Larnaca Airport. Egypt then dispatched its entire antiterrorist squad aboard a C-130 Hercules to deal with the hijacking; however, they did so without the knowledge or 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. Eventually the Egyptian commandos surrendered to the Cypriot forces. The two hijackers were persuaded by the British pilots to give up. The hostages exited the aircraft unharmed once the shooting was over. The Cypriots counted eight wounded. 15 members of the 74-man Egyptian Unit 777 died. President Kyprianou offered reconciliation and apologies, but maintained that Cyprus could not have allowed the Egyptians to act. Egypt and Cyprus each withdrew their diplomatic missions, and frosty relations between the two countries persisted for some time. The two hijackers were condemned to death by a Cypriot court, but the sentence was commuted by Kyprianou and the hijackers released.^{[13][14][15][16]}
• On 5 April 1988, Kuwait Airways Flight 422, a Kuwait Airways Boeing 747, 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 further west to Algeria, but the plane landed in Larnaca for refuelling. Two Kuwaiti hostages were executed by the hijackers and their bodies were thrown out on the airport's runway. The hijacking ended in Algeria on 20 April 1988.^[17]
• On 14 August 2005, Helios Airways Flight 522, a Helios Airways Boeing 737-300, flying from Larnaca to Prague via Athens, crashed into a mountain near Grammatiko, about 40 km (25 mi) from Athens. All 121 on board were killed.
• As a result of the 2006 Lebanon War, the Lebanese airline Middle East Airlines evacuated its fleet to Larnaca.
• Also as a result of the 2006 Lebanon War, a Canadian military aircraft carrying Canadian 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 Larnaca to pick up Canadians who had been evacuated from Lebanon, and took them back to Canada.
• On 28 August 2007, three construction workers were injured when a complete 5 m × 40 m (16 ft × 131 ft) concrete floor collapsed at the construction site for the new passenger terminal.^[18][19]

References

External links

Media related to Larnaca International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for LCLK at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for LCA at Aviation Safety Network

Airports in Cyprus Civilian Ercan International Airport1 Larnaca International Airport Paphos International Airport Military RAF Akrotiri Dhekelia Airfield Geçitkale Air Base1 İlker Karter Air Base1 Kingsfield Airfield Lakatamia Airfield Defunct Nicosia RAF Nicosia 1 Lies in Northern Cyprus