Cyprus Airways name, logo up for sale
NICOSIA: Cyprus will put the trade name and logo of now-defunct state carrier Cyprus Airways up for sale after the airline suspended operations on Jan 9.
Cash-starved Cyprus Airways was shut down after the European Commission ordered it to repay more than €65 million ($77 million) it received in illegal state aid.
Cyprus Airways, which employed 550 people, had been losing money and market share for years, after cheaper competitors started muscling in on its previously lucrative routes. Several attempts to turn it around failed.
“Our attempts are focused on improving Cyprus’s air connectivity, finding jobs for Cyprus Airways staff and using the trade names,” deputy government spokesman Victor Papadopoulos told reporters on Wednesday.
Government officials said a process to find a buyer would have to be “immediate” since the commercial value of the airline’s trade name and its logo — which depicts a species of mountain sheep endemic to the island — could erode over time.
There would be an open competition to appoint advisers on the sale, he said.
Authorities have not speculated on who might be interested in bidding.