FLIGHTS FROM ITALY

ITALIAN INVASION
DEAL WILL SEE 7,000 TOURISTS FLY INTO TRNC DURING 2010

Cyprus Turkish Airlines (CTA) and TRNC-based tour operator Northern Travel Limited (NTL) have clenched a deal to bring 7,000 Italian tourists to North Cyprus in 2010.

Following discussions lasting more than 7-hours on Thursday, both companies signed a contract with Rome-based Prima Classe.

The partnership will see two CTA airliners complete at least 44 charter flights between Milan, Verona, Bologna, Rome and Ercan Airport this summer.

The first batch of tourists will arrive on May 25, with subsequent flights landing weekly on Mondays and Tuesdays until late September. If demand is great enough, a weekly flight will also be scheduled from Rome later in the season.

The holidaymakers will stay at the Merit Crystal Cove, Mercure and Oscar Hotels in Girne; the Salamis Bay Conti in Gazi Magusa and Noah’s Ark Hotel in Bafra.

This week’s deal was secured when Prima Classe bosses agreed to a 100,000 euro insurance guarantee with CTA, a condition sought by the carrier to avoid loss in case of cancellation.

Prime Classe has outlined plans to sell on about 3,000 of the package holiday places to fellow Italian tour operator MySunSea.

Ozbek Dedekorku, co-owner of NTL, thanked CTA General Manager, Erol Atakan for helping to land the deal.
He said “despite some of the problems, I am pleased with the deal. At the end of the day, our struggle and our aim is to benefit tourism in North Cyprus.”

Mr. Dedekorku said his company had chosen to work with CTA because it was the national carrier and cheaper than other airlines.

“CTA is based in North Cyprus so the planes are already here” he said. “This decreases the cost of flights. The company has free days available for flights and, most importantly, it is our airline.”

Extract taken from Cyprus Today 09.01.10