Mediterranean island airports witness post-pandemic bounce back - part one: Cyprus

Regional recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be of concern - especially in the case of Asia Pacific.

But as a CAPA - Centre for Aviation report pointed out right at the start of it, it is small island airports throughout the world that stood to lose the most from the unprecedented event, on account of their exposure to critical supply issues and the loss of tourism revenue.

Malta and Cyprus are two small independent island states in the Mediterranean Sea, with a combined population of less than two million and where tourism was a substantial part of their GDP.

The impact could have been crippling, but both survived, and both tourist numbers and passengers are close to the 2019 level - or have surpassed it.

The question now is where do they go from here? Both have had 'hub' ambitions in the past, and today Cyprus is probably a little better placed to achieve that to any degree.

But for either to have a chance, they really need stronger national airlines - as they previously had.

This is part one of a two-part report.