The aircraft, which was heading to Larnaca, began circling over the island shortly before its scheduled landing, before finally being ordered back to Eleftherios Venizelos Airport, where it landed around 10:50 a.m.

Although the flight eventually departed again after a delay, about half of the passengers chose not to board again, fearing escalation in the Middle East.

A passenger described the tense moments in the air, noting that although the pilot had already announced the landing, the plane suddenly started circling the area. “An announcement was made that we would make some circles due to a military incident, and we would be informed whether we could land or not,” she said, adding that after about fifteen minutes, they were told to return to Athens without any explanation of the exact reason. According to her, roughly half of the other passengers decided to stay in Athens permanently.

“Very risky, I prefer to stay here”
Another traveler explained that his decision not to continue the journey was purely a safety issue, as he considers the current situation in Cyprus extremely risky. A second passenger expressed a similar view, stating that after receiving the in-air instruction that landing was impossible, he chose to remain in Greece. “We were told we couldn’t land. In the end, they informed us that we would return while we were circling over Cyprus,” he said, adding that after this experience, he prefers not to risk returning to the island.