Larnaca Archives – London Air Travel

Cobalt Air Suspends Operations

Cobalt Air has suspended operations with immediate effect, meaning all its flights between London, Athens and Larnaca are cancelled.

London Air Travel » Larnaca

Cobalt Air has suspended operations with immediate effect.

The airline flew from London Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted to Larnaca. It also flew from London Gatwick to Athens.

Local media in Cyprus had reported on Wednesday evening that the airline was facing financial difficulties. The airline has now confirmed that all flights are now suspended as of 21:50 BST / 23:50 EEST Wednesday 17 October 2018.

Cobalt regrets to announce that it will be cancelling all Flights as of 23:50pm on October 17, 2018 due to indefinite suspension of Cobalt’s operations. As a result, future flights or services provided by Cobalt will be cancelled and will no longer operate.

Passengers who have un-flown tickets are instructed not to go to Larnaca Airport or any departure airport tomorrow, 18 October 2018 as no Cobalt flights will operate and no Cobalt staff will be present.

For refunds, please contact your credit card provider or Travel Agent.

We sincerely apologise once again and would like to thank our very loyal customers for their support over the last two years of Cobalt operations.

It began scheduled passenger flights in 2016 and operated a fleet of 2 Airbus A319 and 4 Airbus A320 aircraft in a two class configuration to more than 20 destinations.

Advice for affected passengers

As Cobalt Air is not regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority, it will not be arranging repatriation flights for passengers who need to return to the UK.

However, as it did with the collapse of Primera Air, the CAA may provide general guidance shortly on its website.

If you booked a flight with Cobalt Air through a travel agent, the best advice is to contact them in the first instance.

If you have booked a flight directly with Cobalt Air, then you will need to contact your credit card company to obtain a refund.

If you are stranded and need to book a new flight home, you should contact your travel insurer in the first instance.

With the collapse of Primera Air earlier this month, this is a salutatory reminder of the importance of both having travel insurance and booking flights on a credit card to mitigate the impact of airline failure.
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Cobalt Air launches London Heathrow – Larnaca

Cobalt Air is to fly direct from London Heathrow to Larnaca, Cyprus from Tuesday 27 March 2018. Flights will operate daily from London Heathrow Terminal 3.

London Air Travel » Larnaca

Cobalt Air at London Heathrow

Cobalt Air is to fly from London Heathrow to Larnaca from Tuesday 27 March 2018

The airline will fly from London Heathrow Terminal 3 to Larnaca daily. Flights will be operated using Airbus A320 aircraft in a two class configuration.

Cobalt Air is a relatively young airline. It first operated under two years ago. It also flies from London Gatwick and Stansted. It is not a member of any of the three major airline alliances.

Cobalt Air is particularly keen to emphaise that it will be offering its latest business product on this route, which offers dedicated seating in a 2-2 configuration and a 40″ seat pitch.

Currently, the London Heathrow – Larnaca routes is the exclusive domain of BA.

It is treated as a short-haul route which means BA offers Club Europe business class and EuroTraveller economy.

(The now defunct Cyprus Airways sold its one Heathrow slot pair to American Airlines in 2014 for $31 million.)

Given that Cobalt Air will offer a significantly superior business class product to BA’s Club Europe, BA may be forced to effectively switch the route from short-haul to long-haul.

BA made a similar move many years ago, switching Moscow to a combination of long-haul configured Airbus A321s and widebody Boeing aircraft. BA also operates London Heathrow – Tel Aviv, which has a similar flight length to Larnaca, with widebody Boeing aircraft.

Flights are on sale now at Cobalt Air

London Heathrow – Larnaca

Flight CO327 Depart London Heathrow 17:20 – Arrive Larnaca 23:50
Flight CO326 Depart Larnaca 12:45 – Arrive London Heathrow 15:45

Cyprus Airways Collapse: BA & Aegean Add Flights

Aegean Airlines and British Airways have added additional flights to Larnaca following the collapse of Cyprus Airways.

London Air Travel » Larnaca

Following the collapse last week of Cyprus Airways, British Airways and Aegean Airlines have not wasted any time in adding additional flights between London Heathrow and Larnaca.

BA has added an additional six weekly flights to its existing daily London Heathrow – Larnaca flight from Sunday 29 March 2015.

Aegean Airlines is also launching a daily flight between London Heathrow and Larnaca, also from Sunday 29 March.

Aegean Airlines Schedule (from 29 March 2015)

Flight A3773 Depart London Heathrow 20:45 – Arrive Larnaca 03:15 (ouch!)
Flight A3772 Depart Larnaca 16:40 – Arrive London Heathrow 19:40

British Airways Schedule (from 29 March 2015)

Flight BA664 Depart London Heathrow 07:10 – Arrive Larnaca 14:00 (excluding Saturdays, arrives 13:55 on Wednesday)
Flight BA662 Depart London Heathrow 11:45 – Arrive Larnaca 18:15

Flight BA665 Depart Larnaca 14:50 – Arrive London Heathrow 17:25 (excluding Saturdays)
Flight BA663 Depart Larnaca 19:25 – Arrive London Heathrow 22:10

Flights are on sale now on ba.com and Aegeanair.com respectively.

(H/T to airlineroute.net)

Cyprus Airways Ceases All Flight Operations

London Air Travel » Larnaca

Last year we wrote of how Cyprus Airways withdrew from London Heathrow after selling its one pair of departure and arrival slots to American Airlines for $31 million.

The airline since moved its London – Larnaca route to London Stansted. The European Commission today ruled that financial support received by the airline was deemed to be state aid and had to be repaid.

Cyprus Air has confirmed that it has now ceased operations after nearly 70 years’ flying.

When airlines do go out of business, it is standard practice for other airlines to offer assistance to stranded passengers and those with future bookings. This usually takes the form of offering seats at special fares or for the price paid for the original ticket, known as “rescue fares”.

Ryanair Rescue Fares

Ryanair has confirmed it is offering rescue fares from €49.99 on the following routes: Athens – Paphos; Thessaloniki – Paphos; and London Stansted – Paphos.

British Airways Rescue Fares

British Airways flies to Larnaca from London Heathrow (Terminal 5) and Gatwick (North Terminal). BA is offering a special fare for travel up to the end of January 2015. This can only be booked via a BA call centre or at a BA ticket desk at Gatwick, Heathrow and Larnaca airports.

easyJet also flies to Larnaca from Gatwick. We should hear in the coming days if it is willing to offer assistance to stranded passengers.

Cyprus Airways Withdraws From Heathrow; Moves To Stansted

London Air Travel » Larnaca

Cyprus Airways is to withdraw from London Heathrow airport from 13 September 2014 after the airline sold its pair of departure and arrival slots to American Airlines for some $31 million.

Its daily service from London Heathrow to Larnaca (flight numbers CY346 and CY347, also codeshared with Virgin Atlantic) will be transferred to London Stansted from where it will operate from 14 September 2014.

This has been done as part of a financial restructuring of the airline. This also leaves British Airways as the only operator on the London Heathrow – Larnaca route, currently operated once daily.

It’s not yet been confirmed what route will be operated by the slot pair acquired by American Airlines. $31 million is a substantial sum for this slot pair bearing in mind it falls outside of the peak arrival time for long-haul flights, so its next move will be awaited with interest.

BA launches London Gatwick – Larnaca

London Air Travel » Larnaca

British Airways Logo (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has announced it is to launch a new, thrice weekly, route from London Gatwick to Larnaca.

The route launches on 30 June 2013 and will operate in addition to BA’s daily service from London Heathrow.

The flight operates on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. As is common for Garwick the flight operates at different times on each operating day.

Flight BA2674 departs at 08:35 on Monday (returning from Larnaca at 16:10), 14:40 on Thursday (returning at 22:05) and 09:25 on Sunday (returning at 17:00). The flight will be operated with a Boeing 737 aircraft.

Flights are on sale now at ba.com

From a network development point of view there are a couple of interesting points to note.

First this is another new London Gatwick route which, like Barcelona and Las Vegas, operates in parallel to Heathrow. In recent times London Gatwick and Heathrow have tended to maintain broadly distinct networks but the latest Gatwick routes are a reversal of this trend. Heathrow has also moved into Gatwick’s leisure territory with seasonal routes to Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza and Gran Canaria.

Secondly, this is a relatively long range route which indicates where BA sees growth in the difficult short haul market at Gatwick.

London Heathrow Terminal Changes from 31 March 2013

London Air Travel » Larnaca

British Airways Logo (Image Credit: British Airways)

Here, somewhat belatedly, are details of terminal changes for flights departing from London Heathrow from 31 March 2013.

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