Belt and Road: Cobalt Air boosts regional connectivity

APD NEWS

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The tourism potential of an island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea knows no bounds and the tourism sector in Cyprus has expanded by about a fifth over the past 12 months.

And the Cobalt Air aviation company is playing its part in that growth, as it served more than 750,000 passengers in 2017. Joy Group, under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, is a minority 49-percent shareholder in the company and Cobalt now has a vision of starting long-haul business, which will further boost the region’s connectivity with other parts of the world.

Andrew Madar is the CEO of Cobalt Air.

Blue is the color of Cyprus. This is an island with a lot of blue water around it, and sky is blue most of the time. And that color is now really taking off, from the Mediterranean to the rest of the world. Cobalt Air is now the island's leading flight carrier and it's only taken two years to make its mark, after it's launch in mid-2015. Cobalt now connects Cyprus to 16 cities across Europe and the Middle East. A big part of the company's initial business plan was to use the island as a hub, taking advantage of a sudden domestic vacuum.

The aviation sector of Cyprus has undergone a rapid change in the past two years, starting when state-backed Cyprus Airways went bankrupt. Just one year later, Cobalt Air was born and filled the gap. As the island’s lucrative tourism market continues to grow, Cobalt is winning travelers' hearts with its quality service and ultra-low fares.

Cobalt now has a vision of launching direct flights between the Chinese Mainland and Cyprus-and it's not just because of the Chinese element, the company has reached a point where it's looking at the possibility of long haul flights.

The CEO of Cobalt Air, Andrew Madar said the Chinese market is massive, and that tourism from China to Europe is going to continue in the near future. He told us 40 percent of the traffic from China to Europe is through the Gulf to connections, such as connecting to Africa, so these all made China very attractive long haul.

What's even more attractive is the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, which is bringing Cobalt-and, indeed, Cyprus-more opportunities. Mr. Madar said Cobalt is increasing employment and opportunities to the island, and in addition, facilitating the connectivity of the island to the rest Europe, better than ever before, and to these big capital cities across the country. The air company is bringing direct impact on GDP of the island.

Cobalt has added even more cities to its 2018 summer schedule, and it will give Chinese holiday-makers easier access to Cyprus by opening a flight route to Abu Dhabi, so that they can enjoy different kinds of blues that Cyprus has to offer.

(CGTN)