Ayios Nikolaos, CY 🇨🇾 Closed Airport
CY-0008
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CY-XX
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 35.083178° N, 33.900432° E
Continent: AS
Type: Closed Airport
RAF Ayios Nikolaos (CY-0008) is a British military station located in the Eastern Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia, Cyprus, and serves primarily as an electronic intelligence-gathering station. As a military installation, it does not operate as a commercial airport, and therefore, there are no public traveler reviews or experiences regarding terminal facilities, security wait times, customs/immigration, or public transportation for general civilian travel. The available information pertains to the facilities and amenities provided for service personnel and their dependents stationed at the base.
What Personnel and their Families Appreciate (Based on available information about the base for those stationed there):
Common "Complaints" / Challenges (Not traveler complaints, but aspects of military life):
In summary, RAF Ayios Nikolaos is a military base with a focus on defense and intelligence operations, offering a range of facilities and a supportive community environment for its stationed personnel and their families. It is not a destination for civilian air travel and, consequently, does not have public traveler reviews or experiences in the typical sense.
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The exact closure date is unknown, but the airstrip is believed to have fallen into disuse several decades ago, likely between the 1970s and 1980s. This was not a formal closure of a major air base, but rather a gradual cessation of use for a minor, rudimentary landing strip.
Military obsolescence and change in operational requirements. The entity 'CY-0008' refers to a small, unpaved airstrip within the larger Ayios Nikolaos Station, not a full-fledged air base. This strip was likely used by small, short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) observation or liaison aircraft (such as Austers) in the mid-20th century. As these aircraft were phased out of military service and replaced by more versatile helicopters, which could operate from helipads or nearby Dhekelia Cantonment, the fixed airstrip became redundant.
The physical airstrip is defunct, overgrown, and no longer used for aviation. The site it occupies is an integral part of the highly secure and fully operational Ayios Nikolaos Station. The station remains a vital intelligence-gathering facility for the United Kingdom, located within the Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area (SBA). Satellite imagery shows the faint outline of the former runway, but the area is now dominated by the antennas and buildings of the signals intelligence base.
The airstrip itself had very limited historical significance, serving only as an ancillary facility for short-range utility flights supporting the main intelligence station. The parent installation, Ayios Nikolaos Station, however, has immense historical and strategic importance. Established in 1946, it is one of the most important signals intelligence (SIGINT) gathering stations in the world. Operated by the UK's Joint Service Signal Unit (Cyprus) for GCHQ and its 'Five Eyes' intelligence partners (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand), the station's primary role has always been to intercept electronic communications from across the Middle East, North Africa, and the former Soviet Union. The airstrip was a minor support element to this critical intelligence mission.
There are zero plans or prospects for reopening the airstrip. Its original purpose is obsolete, and modern military aviation needs in the region are comprehensively served by the major air base at RAF Akrotiri and helicopter facilities at Dhekelia. Given its location inside a top-secret, active intelligence-gathering installation, any form of public or private reopening is impossible.