Hermes Airports, the private operator of Larnaca and Paphos international airports, issued an unusual advisory on 25 February 2026 urging all departing passengers to arrive at least three hours before scheduled take-off. The guidance follows a sustained surge in passenger volumes linked to regional instability in the Middle East, which has pushed both terminals close to capacity during peak waves.
According to airport officials, a sharp uptick in government-co-ordinated evacuation charters—part of Cyprus’s long-standing “ESTIA” contingency plan—has coincided with the start of the busy spring conference and leisure season. Check-in queues have lengthened, security screening throughput has slowed, and stand availability has tightened, triggering a cascade of minor delays that reverberate throughout the daily schedule. The three-hour recommendation is designed to smooth demand and to give airlines more time to verify documentation for travellers transiting onward to high-risk destinations.
Airport staff have been redeployed to immigration, transfer-desk and special-assistance positions, while additional way-finding signage has been installed in English, Greek, Russian and Hebrew. Hermes says the measures are temporary but may remain in force until the regional security picture stabilises.
![Cyprus airports tell passengers to arrive three hours early as evacuation traffic peaks]()
Travellers facing these longer waits often discover, sometimes at the last minute, that their paperwork for Cyprus or for onward countries is incomplete. VisaHQ can step in quickly, providing online visa processing, document reviews and courier services tailored to Cypriot departures, all accessible via https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/ Leveraging such assistance can streamline pre-flight formalities and help passengers make the most of the extended arrival window.
For corporate mobility managers the advisory means reassessing tight connection windows and factoring longer dwell times into duty-of-care calculations. Travellers holding Fast-Track or premium-class tickets retain priority access, yet anecdotal reports suggest even these lanes have begun to back-up during the morning bank of departures to London, Athens and Tel Aviv. Employers are therefore being urged to remind staff to build extra slack into itineraries and to book car-park or taxi slots well in advance.
Cyprus’s two airports handled a record 12.5 million passengers in 2025; officials now predict volumes could climb a further 4–6 percent this year if evacuation activity continues. While the influx underlines the island’s strategic value as a safe staging post, it also highlights the operational fragility of facilities originally designed for lower throughput. Longer-term remedies under discussion include a fast-track security extension at Larnaca and a satellite terminal at Paphos, but both projects remain at feasibility stage.
According to airport officials, a sharp uptick in government-co-ordinated evacuation charters—part of Cyprus’s long-standing “ESTIA” contingency plan—has coincided with the start of the busy spring conference and leisure season. Check-in queues have lengthened, security screening throughput has slowed, and stand availability has tightened, triggering a cascade of minor delays that reverberate throughout the daily schedule. The three-hour recommendation is designed to smooth demand and to give airlines more time to verify documentation for travellers transiting onward to high-risk destinations.
Airport staff have been redeployed to immigration, transfer-desk and special-assistance positions, while additional way-finding signage has been installed in English, Greek, Russian and Hebrew. Hermes says the measures are temporary but may remain in force until the regional security picture stabilises.
Travellers facing these longer waits often discover, sometimes at the last minute, that their paperwork for Cyprus or for onward countries is incomplete. VisaHQ can step in quickly, providing online visa processing, document reviews and courier services tailored to Cypriot departures, all accessible via https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/ Leveraging such assistance can streamline pre-flight formalities and help passengers make the most of the extended arrival window.
For corporate mobility managers the advisory means reassessing tight connection windows and factoring longer dwell times into duty-of-care calculations. Travellers holding Fast-Track or premium-class tickets retain priority access, yet anecdotal reports suggest even these lanes have begun to back-up during the morning bank of departures to London, Athens and Tel Aviv. Employers are therefore being urged to remind staff to build extra slack into itineraries and to book car-park or taxi slots well in advance.
Cyprus’s two airports handled a record 12.5 million passengers in 2025; officials now predict volumes could climb a further 4–6 percent this year if evacuation activity continues. While the influx underlines the island’s strategic value as a safe staging post, it also highlights the operational fragility of facilities originally designed for lower throughput. Longer-term remedies under discussion include a fast-track security extension at Larnaca and a satellite terminal at Paphos, but both projects remain at feasibility stage.
