Recent State incentives to boost Cyprus’ flagging tourism, which included a cut in airport fees, is too little too late, low-cost carrier Ryanair has said.

“The ones who will survive the (financial) crisis will be those who are flexible and nimble-footed. The urgency being shown by competing countries doesn’t seem to be shared by Cyprus. We could have been flying tourists in before the crisis broke,” the airline’s Route Development boss Bernard Berger told the Cyprus Sunday Mail in an interview.

There are also practical reasons why Ryanair won’t be planning UK flights to/from Cyprus, which take four to five hours compared to the low-cost carriers’ usual ceiling of three hours.

“You have built a new palace of an airport in Paphos, but you need to look at travel costs, fees and so on. To use an election metaphor, our ‘floating voters’ will go where it’s cheaper, like Greece or Malta. They’re the ones who will make the difference, not the ‘core vote’ who will keep going to their favourite destination.”