The new terminal at LCA has been inaugurated by the President of the Republic on Saturday 07 Nov 09 and is set to open for business on Tuesday 10 Nov 09.

For the first 7 days, only flights of Cyprus Airways and Easyjet will be handled to enable a smoother transition from the old terminal.

The first flights to use the new terminal will be the CY arrival flight from Amman at 07:30 and CY departure for Athens half an hour later.

The old terminal, which was setup on a temporary basis in Feb 1975 due to the closure of Nicosia airport, will become part of history although it will still be on standby for a few months until the operator finalise their plans about its conversion possibly into a commercial centre.

The new terminal features 16 air bridges and additional bus boarding gates and is able to handle 7.5 million people as opposed to 3-4million that the old terminal can handle.

It has also been built in accordance with the Schengen regulations and allows passenger trasnfers (transit was very difficult in the old terminal)

Officials are excited about the opening and hope that the new terminal will help in the development of the tourist product that Cyprus has on offer.

An interesting note is the reference of the Chairman of Hermes Airports (operator) that at least 5 airlines want to start flying to LCA within the next few months, a reference he also made during an interview at one of the island's TV stations. He did not mention any names though.