Nicosia International Airport became a frontline after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and has since been declared a United Nations Protected Area
Eerie images have offered a glimpse inside an abandoned airport which has been empty for nearly five decades – with the terminals and planes left to rot.
Nicosia International Airport, once the shining gateway to Cyprus, now lies silent and deserted, a ghostly monument to a devastating conflict that shattered the island. Built originally in the 1930s, the site began its life as an RAF station before growing into the island’s main civilian airport.
Following a Turkish invasion in 1974, the airport became a frontline and was bombed and battered in fierce fighting. A ceasefire was eventually brokered, but not before the site was declared a United Nations Protected Area – its perimeter now part of the island’s buffer zone.
Commercial flights limped on briefly. In 1977, three Cyprus Airways planes stranded on the tarmac were finally flown out, thanks to the efforts of British Airways engineers. But the airport never truly recovered, and it’s barely been touched since, locked in a time capsule of war.
Inside the terminal today, rows of dusty chairs still stand where travellers once waited, and peeling advert boards on the walls promise sun-soaked holidays to “the ends of the earth”. Pigeons coo in the rafters – the only sounds now belong to nature reclaiming this once-bustling hub.
Out on the runway sits a skeletal shell of a Hawker Siddeley Trident, with its bullet-riddled engine parts long since stripped.
Although regular passenger flights have long ceased, the airport hasn’t entirely been forgotten. It’s now the headquarters for the UN Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP), and helicopters still use part of the site.
But public access is strictly limited — safety concerns and decades of neglect mean only a handful of people ever glimpse the derelict halls.
Some hopes have flickered over the years for a comeback. In the 1990s and beyond, there were UN-facilitated talks about reopening the airport. However, political divisions kept it grounded, and no agreement was ever reached.
Aleem Siddique, spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus, previously told Reuters: “It is actually frozen in time.
“Although there were several attempts over the years by the sides to reach an agreement, to see the airport being re-opened, restored, and rehabilitated, the sides were unable to reach an agreement, so gradually the condition of the airport had deteriorated.”
“No planes have left or arrived since 1974.”
Thanks to a digital resurrection project by the Cyprus Institute, the public can tour the airport virtually. The “NIC Platform” allows users to explore offices, duty-free areas, and jetways — all preserved online in haunting detail.
One local who lives a couple of kilometres from the airport managed to get special permission to enter.
Describing the experience, he said: “Being a local, and four years old when the invasion took place, I tell you, I was flooded with unfathomable emotions when I went in.
“It’s eerie. It’s emotional. It’s frustrating. It’s sad. Believe me, your mind can make you hear the noise of a buzzing airport, passengers and planes and announcements and all. It’s insane. This is a time freeze that should never have occurred.”
