Cyprus Airways Larnaca and the small island carriers: summer only flying, the seasonal contract and how crew make a Mediterranean island career work
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#1 Cyprus Airways, Larnaca, three years, and the island carriers of the Mediterranean (Cyprus Airways, Air Malta's successor KM Malta Airlines, the Greek island bases of Aegean and the Balearic bases of the Spanish carriers) share a pattern that nobody on this forum has written up: the summer is everything.
Cyprus Airways now
The relaunched Cyprus Airways, a small airline with A320 family aircraft, based at Larnaca, flying to Greece, Israel when it flies, the Middle East, and the European leisure markets that send tourists to Cyprus in summer. A crew of a few hundred, most of them Cypriot or Greek with some other nationalities who moved to the island.
The seasonal shape
From April to October the airline flies its maximum schedule: every aircraft, every crew, six days a week, the sun routes full both ways. From November to March it flies a fraction of that: Athens, Tel Aviv, a few European cities, and a lot of the fleet parked. The crew contracts reflect this: a core of permanent crew who fly the winter, and a larger group of seasonal crew who work the summer and are laid off or on reduced hours in winter.
The seasonal contract
Roughly April to October, full time, with the option of return the next summer. Pay in euros at a Cypriot level, which is modest, with sector pay and allowances that make the summer months good. No pay in winter unless you are core. The crew who do it treat it like the Jet2 and TUI seasonal people do: a summer of flying and saving, a winter of something else (the Cyprus tourism industry, a ski season, travelling, studying).
Making the island career work
The permanent crew have the winter covered and the summer is heavy. The seasonal crew build a two season life: Cyprus Airways in summer and a winter job that fits, or another airline's winter (some go to the Gulf carriers for a winter contract, some to the ski charter flying in Europe). A few do two summers then move to a bigger airline with the hours. The island is small, the flying is the same routes, and the crew room knows everyone. It suits people who love the island and want to fly from home. It does not suit people who want the world.
KM Malta, Aegean islands, the Balearics
The same pattern with local differences. KM Malta is the Maltese version. The Aegean Greek island bases are seasonal within a bigger airline. The Balearic bases of the Spanish carriers open and close with the season. All of them are summer jobs with a winter question.
The honest view
A Mediterranean island carrier is a good summer job and a hard year round career. The crew who make it work have a winter plan and a love of the island. The rest do two summers and go to the Gulf or Western Europe with hours, which is a legitimate use of the seasonal contract and the airlines know it.
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#2 Aegean Athens, and the Greek island bases are exactly this within a bigger airline. Summer at Heraklion or Rhodes, winter from Athens or not at all. The winter plan is the whole career question.
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#3 Jet2 Leeds, seasonal for four summers, and the Cyprus version is our life with better weather. The two season life is real and it works if you plan it in July.
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#4 Croatia Airlines, and the Adriatic is the same: summer everything, winter Zagreb to Frankfurt. The Mediterranean airlines are all one seasonal airline with different flags.