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Witness History: Cyprus 1974: The final landing

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Cyprus 1974: The final landing

16/07/2024 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Cyprus 1974: The final landing

In July 1974, Captain Adamos Marneros landed the last flight at Nicosia Airport in Cyprus

Fifty years ago, the last ever flight landed at Nicosia Airport in Cyprus, as theTurkish invasion of the island began. Captain Adamos Marneros was the pilot.

On the 20 July 1974, a young pilot was preparing to land passenger flight CY317 into Nicosia Airport in Cyprus, amidst the threat of an imminent Turkish invasion. From the air, he could see warships approaching the island.  

Little did he know that his aircraft would be the final one to land there, it would be destroyed within hours, and the airport remains frozen in time to this day.   

Fifty years later, Captain Adamos Marneros tells Amelia Parker about that fear-filled final flight, on a pivotal day in 1974, and the airport, which he revisited a few years ago.

(Photo: Captain Adamos Marneros. Credit: Andros Efstathios)

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