Following requests from Austria and Portugal to facilitate citizen evacuations, public services at the Zenon Coordination Centre in Larnaca, are bracing for the arrival of yet more foreign nationals in Cyprus and are adapting the relevant Estia National Plan accordingly, in order to accommodate for greater numbers. As a first step, flights of military aircrafts carrying Austrian nationals starting tonight will be using the Pafos airport.
According to Philenews sources, Austria will be initially conducting four flights carrying citizens from Israel, the first of those scheduled to land at midnight. Three C130s have arrived at Larnaca airport from Israel today carrying around 200 people, mostly Portuguese nationals, as well as 8 Cypriots.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis said that in coordination with the Cyprus Embassy in Israel it was deemed as a better solution to board Cypriots on military flights instead of commercial ones for which they had tickets and departing much later in the day. ‘If considered necessary, this practice will continue’, Gotsis added.
A small number of Cypriots remain in Israel and most of them have already booked tickets on commercial flights, but if they can brought home sooner another way this will be coordinated accordingly, as the foreign ministry spokesperson said.
