Drones intercepted off Cyprus, EasyJet cancels all UK-Cyprus flights
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Two unmanned drones which had been fired in the direction of the United Kingdom’s Akrotiri air force base in Cyprus were “dealt with in a timely manner”, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Monday afternoon, hours after the base had been hit.
Earlier, a second “security threat” was declared at the United Kingdom’s Akrotiri air force base in Cyprus shortly after midday on Monday, while the village of Akrotiri was also evacuated.
A source from the interior ministry said that in light of the fact that the British bases’ authorities had elected to evacuate the air force base, the Cypriot government decided to give instructions for the village of Akrotiri to also be evacuated. Other villages within the Akrotiri base area were not evacuated.
Meanwhile, sources informed the Cyprus Mail that personnel at the base were told of the threat, and instructed to “return to your homes and stay inside until further notice”.
They were also told to “move away from windows and take cover behind or beneath substantial, solid furniture”, and to await further instruction.
The second threat came after the runway at Akrotiri was hit by a drone shortly after midnight, with personnel on the bases being informed at 1.18am that a “small drone” had “impacted the airfield”.
It was also confirmed that there were no casualties as a result of the overnight strike, but that “minor damage” had been caused.
Meanwhile, low-cost airline easyJet has cancelled all its flights connecting Cyprus and the United Kingdom until Thursday, the Cyprus Mail has learned.
The airline typically flies out of Larnaca airport to London Gatwick, and from Paphos to both Gatwick and Manchester.
It thus far appears that easyJet flights to Berlin are unaffected by the decision.
Aside from easyJet, flights in and out of Cyprus continued to be impacted by the ongoing conflict in the region, with the number of cancellations growing.
Cancelled arrivals into Larnaca on Monday included Tus Airways’, Aegean’s, and Sundor’s flights from Tel Aviv, Edelweiss’ flight from Zurich, Air Haifa’s flight from Haifa, Lufthansa’s flights from Munich, Austrian Airlines’ flights from Vienna, and Cyprus’ Airways’ flights from Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Beirut.
Outbound cancellations from Larnaca included Emirates’ flight to Malta, flights to Tel Aviv operated by Aegean, Arkia, Tus Airways, Cyprus Airways, and Sundor, as well as Qatar Airways’ flight to Doha, Edelweiss’ flight to Zurich, Lufthansa’s flight to Munich, Air Haifa’s flight to Haifa, and Austrian Airlines’ flight to Zurich.
Cyprus Airways also cancelled its outbound services to Beirut and to Dubai.
To and from Paphos, only easyJet’s flights on Monday were cancelled.
