Cyprus Airways – The Last Goodbye
Cyprus Airways – The Last Goodbye – Airline Closed, Last Takeoffs From Larnaca – Plane Spotting
It’s the final goodbye from us to 68 years of history in the Cypriot skies: a goodbye to Cyprus Airways. Since the closure of the airline, this was the last time we got to see an aircraft of theirs in the sky, on their return flight back to their owners… Watch the fleet take off, one aircraft after another, marking the end of those 68 years of pride.
The Era of Cyprus Airways came to an end on Friday, 9 January 2015. On Sunday, 11 of the month, the whole fleet, which was grounded, was flown back to England to their previous owner, leaving the Cypriot FIR back for the last time. The video shows the last takeoffs of Cyprus Airways aircraft from their home country, Cyprus, as well as the last time such an aircraft was spotted there. The departing aircraft, one after another, were: 5B-DCJ, 5B-DCK, 5B-DCM, 5B-DCH and 5B-DCL (departed from Lebanon due to checks). The A320 seen parked at the apron was the only one owned by the airline, the historical 5B-DBB, which will stay there, frozen in time, waiting for a better future, facing the danger of being sold for spare parts or even scrapping… By far the most touching takeoffs I have ever filmed since I first started plane spotting and one of the most tragic days of my 16 years of life, seeing the aircraft of my dreams take to the skies for the LAST TIME in my life… Praying that I will live on this planet to see the Cypriot mouflon (logo of CY) in the skies again, and even fulfill my dream to work as a pilot for this airline, hoping that it will reopen in another name soon…
It was an early morning wakeup for me to get to the airport on time… Initially, I just stared at the fleet of CY, wondering how we ended up in this situation. All the airplanes of my dreams, GROUNDED, waiting for the crew to come to take them on their last ever flight… One after another, the aircraft requested their clearances, started up, taxied to the runway and took off, with the pilots constantly making the mistake of starting their callsign with “Cyprus” instead of the aircraft’s registration, as they had been doing for years… Only that brought tears to my eyes, reminding me that it’s no ordinary day, no ordinary flight, that it’s all over, it’s the final goodbye. It was a tragic irony the pilot requested a photo while taxiing, I wish I could speak to him. I hope that with this video you can all feel the big loss that Cyprus has encountered. As mentioned in a previous video of mine “68 years of history are too deeply ingrained to be wiped out”. Indeed.
