There has been a 17.8% fall in passengers arriving at Ercan airport between January and October 2018.
A report by Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Kibris’ said that this was because of increases to air fares. This has led Turkish Cypriots residing in the UK to fly to Larnaca and Paphos airports.
According to the report, during the first 10 months of 2017, 21,6236 Turkish Cypriots from the UK visited the North through Ercan while in the same period in 2018, passenger numbers were down to 17,792.
Turkish Cypriots from the UK who crossed into North Cyprus through Greek Cypriot checkpoints rose from 40,155 (January to October 2017) to 41,874 (January to October 2018).
Turkish Cypriots flying from the UK have been using Larnaca and Paphos airports because fares are cheaper and flights are direct.
The same report said that there was a 44.5% increase in the number of Greek Cypriots visiting the TRNC. In the first 10 months of this year, 1,299,981 Greek Cypriots visited North Cyprus compared to 899,628 in the same period in 2017.
Kibris
