Just three days after a staffing strike snarled departures, Cyprus’ busiest airport confronted a new operational headache: a slowdown in the police-run electronic gates used to scan passports. The malfunction – first observed on Sunday but confirmed by authorities on Wednesday evening (8 July) – resulted from what police spokesman Christos Andreou called “protective measures” introduced after a private cyber-security firm warned of a potential ransomware campaign targeting government networks. With the automated e-gates throttled, all travellers – including EU citizens – had to be processed manually. Transaction times reportedly tripled, with some visitors queueing for 45 minutes in the non-Schengen arrivals hall. Paphos Airport experienced milder slowdowns thanks to lighter traffic, but tour operators reported that at least one coach departure to Limassol had to wait for late-arriving passengers. For corporate mobility teams, the episode highlights the fragility of Cyprus’ border-technology stack just months before the EU-wide Entry/Exit System (EES) becomes mandatory for third-country nationals. Employers bringing in time-critical technicians or project staff should budget extra arrival time and monitor police advisories; holders of the Cyprus Digital Nomad Visa, for example, must still present biometric data on entry and are affected by manual processing delays.
![Passport-control system glitch triggers lengthy waits at Larnaca – police blame cyber-security safeguards]()
Ahead of arrival, travellers can mitigate at least some of the bureaucracy by handling visa formalities online. VisaHQ’s dedicated Cyprus platform lets individuals and corporate mobility coordinators check eligibility, compile documents and submit applications in a single dashboard, so that once they reach the checkpoint—manual or automated—the paperwork side is already squared away.
The police’s cyber-security unit has since patched the affected servers, but officials have stopped short of a full green light, saying the e-gates will operate “at reduced throughput” until a forensic audit is completed. Airlines have been asked to stagger boarding to prevent arrivals hall overcrowding, and Hermes Airports has reopened a rarely-used secondary arrivals channel to ease congestion. Longer term, the Ministry of Transport plans to deploy a parallel cloud-based border-control platform financed through the EU Recovery Fund, with pilot testing slated for Q4 2026. Until then, mobility managers should advise travellers to carry hard-copy proof of onward tickets and accommodation, as manual officers are more likely to request supporting documents when systems are degraded.
Ahead of arrival, travellers can mitigate at least some of the bureaucracy by handling visa formalities online. VisaHQ’s dedicated Cyprus platform lets individuals and corporate mobility coordinators check eligibility, compile documents and submit applications in a single dashboard, so that once they reach the checkpoint—manual or automated—the paperwork side is already squared away.
The police’s cyber-security unit has since patched the affected servers, but officials have stopped short of a full green light, saying the e-gates will operate “at reduced throughput” until a forensic audit is completed. Airlines have been asked to stagger boarding to prevent arrivals hall overcrowding, and Hermes Airports has reopened a rarely-used secondary arrivals channel to ease congestion. Longer term, the Ministry of Transport plans to deploy a parallel cloud-based border-control platform financed through the EU Recovery Fund, with pilot testing slated for Q4 2026. Until then, mobility managers should advise travellers to carry hard-copy proof of onward tickets and accommodation, as manual officers are more likely to request supporting documents when systems are degraded.
