Libra Holidays ‘unaffected’ by Helios crash
Libra Holidays says its operation has been unaffected by the crash of an aircraft from sister company Helios Airways.
The Helios Boeing 737 went down on Sunday in mountains north of Athens on a flight from Larnaca killing all 121 passengers and crew.
Libra Holidays is part of the Cyprus-based travel organisation Libra Holidays Group which owns Helios and hotel chain DH Cyprotels.
The UK operator’s sales and marketing director Paul Riches said: “As a specialist tour operator to Cyprus, we operate from 18 regional airports throughout the UK, with a number of charter airlines.
“Helios Airways accounts for approximately 3% of our overall flight programme. The staff within Libra Holidays is doing all they can to support the team at Helios as they deal with this tragic event.
“All of Libra Holidays is operating as normal and current booking levels to Cyprus appear to remain unaffected over the last few days.”
Helios flights are operating normally with the possibility of slight delays, a statement from the airline said.
Helios confirmed that the aircraft involved in the crash had previously experienced a decompression problem on a flight from Warsaw to Larnaca. The aircraft landed “in accordance with normal procedures” and the maintenance of the 737 “was not questioned at any time by the authorities”.
The aircraft last underwent routine maintenance on August 10 and 12 and there were no adverse reports arising from these checks, the Helios statement said.
“The cause of the accident on Sunday has yet to be established by the authorities with whom we are working closely,” the airline added, describing media coverage regarding the cause as “speculative”.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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