Cyprus Airways “Old Colours – EVELTHON” v1.0
Cyprus made a transition to Airbus aircraft over the course of the decade. Its first A310 widebodies arrived in 1984, followed by A320s in 1989. The order for the eight A320s was worth more than DEM 250 million.
Cyprus Airways was one of the first airlines to operate the Airbus A310, the eighth airline in the world to receive the Airbus A320, and the first airline that launched the IAE V2500 engine along with Adria Airways.
Profits reached record levels in the mid-1980s as the airline added service from new UK cities (Cardiff, Newcastle, and Glasgow). Income of CYP 4.8 million (DEM 8 million) in 1983, a record, would be tripled three years later. By this time, the airline was carrying 740,000 passengers a year.
British Airways divested the last of its shares in 1991, leaving the government with an 80.46 percent stake and private investors, the remainder. The airline was flying high, introducing a livery and uniforms as the Airbuses plied new routes to Berlin and Helsinki. Cyprus Airways had also joined the SABRE international computer reservations system and set up a tour operation in the United Kingdom.
In 1992 the group established Eurocypria Airlines Ltd. to fly European tourists to Cyprus on a charter basis. It was expanding into ancillary services as well, taking over duty-free operations at Larnaca and Pafos airports.
Cyprus added many new cooperation agreements with other airlines as it developed its international reach by linking Europe and the Middle East. Its partners included KLM and Saudia. By the mid-1990s, more than one million passengers were flying Cyprus Airways every year; another 4,000 chose the charter operation Eurocypria. The airline’s market share approached 40 percent. After a rough couple of years, the company posted a CYP 13 million profit in 1994 thanks to cost-cutting and marketing efforts.
The airline’s livery was an all white fuselage with the words ‘CYPRUS AIRWAYS’ in blue over the front passenger windows. The vertical stabilizer was blue, with yellow lines depicting a galloping Cypriot mouflon, a type of wild sheep only found in Cyprus. This logo was also painted on the engines of the aircraft. The galloping mouflon logo was designed in 1962 by David Collins on the instruction of BEA. The first aircraft to display the mouflon design were De Havilland Comet 4B aircraft by the passenger door entrance
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