Travellers stranded, Cobalt Air folds
TRAVELLERS were scrambling for flights to and from Larnaca after Cobalt Air folded on Wednesday — with a Girne travel agent grabbing one of the last current tickets, a one-way business class British Airways flight to London at a price of £1,000.
Hundreds of Cobalt Air ticket-holders were stranded from Thursday after the airline issued a brief announcement cancelling all
flights from 11.50pm as their final London flight returned to the island.
TRNC resident Cathy Lund and her husband paid £350 for two one-way tickets back from a two-week UK holiday to replace their Cobalt Air October 27 return flights.
Mrs Lund said: “I got my money back from Monarch Airlines last year and will contact my bank and Budget Air.”
Girne agent Eren Seferber, of Ankara Travel, said: “Three families have come in the last 24 hours to rebook for flights on Atlas Global and Pegasus and there are plenty of flights from Ercan airport. Cobalt Air have gone down during the school halfterm holidays — thank God it wasn’t the summer.”
The Larnaca-based budget airline, which had 200 staff and flew to 23 destinations, told ticket-holders not to go to Larnaca airport or contact its offices “as no Cobalt flights will operate, and no Cobalt staff will be present”, adding: “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.”
Nine flights each had been scheduled to arrive or depart from Larnaca airport on Thursday, as Greek Cypriot Transport Minister Vassiliki Anastassiadou left an emergency meeting to announce that repatriation costs up to and including October 24 would be covered by the government. This did not absolve the airline of liability, he said.
A statement advised passengers to call Top Kinisis on (00357) 228 69999 or Orthodoxou Travel on 248 41100 for a replacement one-way economy ticket, adding that passengers who booked by debit or credit card should contact their provider for information.
North Cyprus-resident Leyla Yaygın, who was booked to fly to London tomorrow for a school and family reunion, said: “I had a hotel booked but will not be going as lastminute flights are £300 to £400 each way.”
Deniz Birinci posted her dilemma on social media: “I have three round-trip tickets for London, bought via Skyscanner, through an online Turkish travel agent that it directed me to, paid by Bank of Cyprus debit card, with two separate airlines for each leg. The first leg was Cobalt, the return was not. The invoice does not show a cost breakdown for each flight but just the grand total for both.”
Cobalt Air employees, many from the defunct Cyprus Airways, have criticised the swift government cancellation of the airline’s licence, saying that the company had not requested a single euro and had sought investors.