LCA-Spot1
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September 14, 2014Larnaca Intl. Airport Spotting Guide
- last modified on April 4, 2023
Larnaca International Airport is Cyprus’ main international gateway and the larger of the country’s two commercial airports, the other being Paphos International Airport on the island’s south western coast. The airport has one primary passenger terminal. Departures are accommodated on the upper level, while arrivals at the ground level. A second “VIP terminal” also exists, which is used for visiting Heads of State, some private aviation, and for cargo.
Larnaca Airport is used as a hub by passengers travelling between Europe and the Middle East. The status of Cyprus as a major tourist destination means that air traffic has steadily risen to over 5 million passengers a year. This is double the capacity the airport was first designed for. For this reason, a tender was put out in 1998 to develop the airport further and increase its capacity
The traffic at LCA is busy between late March and early November. Mostly European charters, especially from UK, Russia and Germany. Traditionally, Monday is “Scandinavian and Airtours” day, Wednesday and Sunday “British charter” days, Thursday “German charters” day, and Friday a good “mixed” day. Most Russian charters are on Sunday, while a few are on Saturday. There is quite a bit of traffic from the Middle East, as well as considerable traffic from Israel, ranging from Cessnas to 737. Majority heavies Russian traffics like, Aeroflot, Ural, Sibir, Yakutia, Thomson, Jet2, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Gulf Air, Royal Jordanian, Wizz Air, Egyptair, El Al, British Airways , Air Moldova, Air Serbia, LOT…
Written by Jeremy Denton. Last update July 2022.
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| Airline Variety | |
| Photo Locations |  |
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| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 04/22 | 2.980 m (9.777 ft) Concrete |
| Terminals | One for all flights |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | Not needed. |
| Car/Public Transport | Car is required to get around. No public transport. |
| Restrooms | Only at spot 4 at the beach. |
| Drinks/Food | Only at spot 4 at the beach. |
| Hotels | Lots of hotels near Machenzie Beach |
| Season | Durinig the summer holiday season from late March until early November. |
| Runway Usage | |
| 04/22 | 95% of the time is rwy22 arrivals & departures it’s really rare to see 04 to be used. |
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Spot #1 – Arrivals and departures rwy22 |
|---|---|
| WHERE | From the airport, take highway B4 direction West for about 2 minutes. Exit the highway on the left, stay on this road called “Archiepiskopou Makariou III”, than take the first road on left “Meneou – Pervolia” you’ll pass next to a Tennis Academy, go strait until you can turn on the left. There is a small concrete way along the sea. Drive about 10 minutes direction the Water Treatment Plant. Then the concrete road is finish, continue on the gravy way next to the sea for 3 minutes. Park your car anywhere at this point and walk the rest along the beach until you see a stop sign at the perimeter fence (see photo below). |
| WHAT | Arrivals and line-up rwy 22. |
| TIME | From sunrise until late noon. |
| MISC. | Bring with you what you need. The police have been absolutely superb but advised due to health and safety grounds and jet blast you can’t photograph or be past the stop sign on the airside perimeter Road. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 18-200mm |
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Spot #2 – Departures rwy 22 |
|---|---|
| WHERE | From spot 1, drive on the gravy way for about 5-10 minutes. 10 meters next to the airport fences. |
| WHAT | Departures rwy22 |
| TIME | From sunrise until late noon. |
| MISC. | Bring with you what you need. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 200-300mm |
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Spot #3 – Apron 24 stands |
|---|---|
| WHERE | From point 1, returned to the airport direction. Take the highway B4 direction East, continue strait to the Larnaca Salt Lake, pass the roundabout then you’ll see on your right a hill with some trees. Park your car next to road. Climb the hill take your pictures and leave. Don’t stay to long at this spot (recommended, due to highway traffics and police won’t be agree to stay at this area). |
| WHAT | Static aircraft can be taken from the hill, be careful about heat haze on hot days. |
| TIME | From afternoon until sunset in the summer. Almost no light on this side during the winter months. |
| MISC. | Bring with you what you need. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-400mm |
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Spot #4 – Mackenzy Beach |
|---|---|
| WHERE | From spot 3, continue strait and take the first road on the right “Piale Pasa” then right to the roundabout and find a park for your car. Finally, walk to the Mackenzie Beach and stay where you want along the see. |
| WHAT | The best spotting location at LCA is Mackenzy Beach. Perfect for arrivals on rwy 22. Close to the airport fence where the path through the bars and restaurants ends you will find a large concrete block. If you climb up you can clear the fence and take pictures of aircraft at the holding point for runway 22. |
| TIME | From afternoon until sunset in the summer. Almost no light on this side during the winter months. In the morning hours the light is good for the holding point. |
| MISC. | Drinks and foods are available on restaurant and bar. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-200mm |
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Spot #5 – Terminal |
|---|---|
| WHERE | When you are inside the terminal and you pass the security find places to take pictures, it’s really easy. |
| WHAT | You can have the possibility to have great shot from windows inside the terminal. |
| TIME | From afternoon until sunset in the summer. Almost no light on this side during the winter months. |
| MISC. | Drinks and foods are available on restaurant and bar. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 18-300mm |
I’m in Larnaca at the moment and have been spotting early morning at spot one. The police have been absolutely superb but advised due to health and safety grounds and jet blast you can’t photograph or be past the stop sign on the airside perimeter Road. I have photos of what sign I mean and you can still get runway shots on the raised part before this sign. The officer today even checked with his operational team and this was confirmed. Still a good spot until 12:30.
Hi Gareth, would you be so kind and send me some photos and the GPS coordinates for the stop sign for spot 1 to support@spotterguide.net please.
-Julian
Hello Chris!
Thanks for writing this article!
Idk if it is okay for 2020 year, but l will check your information
Can we please move this under European airports? It bothers me that an EU airport/country is listed as in the Middle East. I’m from Cyprus and most Cypriots would disagree with this categorization.
We use this as our reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East so we keep it as it is.
-Julian
Do you really trust Wikipedia over so many other more trustworthy sources? Even if you insist on Wikipedia, here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe under states and territories, Cyprus is listed 11th from the top.
I was just wondering, why I can not find Cyprus in the Europe locations – could it be that there is no spotter guide for Cyprus? So I used Google search for it and found it here…but of course, it is Europe and should be in the Europe locations…
We are using the geographical locations for the countries and in this case Cyprus belongs to the middle east. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East
-Julian
Can anyone here write please the coordinates of spot 1?
I want to know how to get by car to this place.
I’m planning a visit next week.
Thanks.
34.875121, 33.636017
Open a new goolge map and then right click on the location, select “whats here” and you will see the coordinates.
-Julian
Thanks for the quick response, but I have a problem.
When I try to check the route from the airport or from the hotel to this place, it can not find results:
”Sorry, you can not calculate driving directions from Larnaca International Airport, Larnaca, Cyprus’ to Larnaca Unnamed Road”.
So I don’t know how to get there by car.
Do you understand my question / problem?
Have you read our description above? “Then the concrete road is finish, continue on the gravy way next to the sea for 3 minutes.”
A navigation system don´t show you the way on this dirt road. Head for the “BEACH FOR DOGS” and decide by yourself how far you wanna drive with the car.
But usually you can drive until the position where we set the parking icon.
-Julian
Many thanks.
Following the previous question:
I see ”BEACH FOR DOGS” very close.
I hope this map helps me.
Please check it for me:
https://goo.gl/maps/dS9DCdzySmK2
Thanks a lot.
Eli.
Not possible to join point 4 to point 1 by walk via the beach, there is a fence till over the water.
Thanks for the great guide.
I have a question:
Is it possible to get on foot from the Flamingo Beach Hotel to Spot #1?
Great guide, just booked ! 🙂
Just a question, is it possible to join from point 4 to point 1 by walk via the beach?
Thanks !
Cédric
Hi Cedric. It is possible to walk from spot 4 to 1, though i would`nt recommend to do so. Despite getting some wet feet, the bigger problem will be the airport security and the police as they dont like people underneath the approach path. Spot 1 might be critical in general. Last year i was immediately asked to leave, whilst in years before they´ve tolerated my presence when i told them that i walked from the back and wont move from this point closer to the approach.