Brussels, 18/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the Transport Council on Friday 15 October, the Cypriot delegation announced its concerns at the overfly ban imposed on Cypriot airlines for certain sections of Turkish territory. This overfly ban, which the Cypriot delegation claims has been in place since 1974, made itself particularly felt during a recent strike by Greek air traffic controllers, which forced international airlines operating in the region to change routes and avoid Greece by approaching via Turkey. The applications and flight plans put forward at that time by two Cypriot airlines, Cyprus Airways and Eurocypria, however, were “quickly and categorically” turned down by the Turkish authorities, the Cypriot delegation explained. Cyprus went on to state that this attitude on Turkey's part infringes international aviation legislation (generally speaking, and overfly ban is permitted only when the areas in question house military airports or are territories under occupation or in a state of war, or are situated along supply routes leading to areas coming under this category). According to Nicosia , Turkey's attitude is also damaging to the economic situation of the airlines in question which, having been forced to avoid Turkish airspace, are obliged to use longer routes, increasing costs and giving Cypriot airlines a disadvantage on European routes compared to their competitors. (A.By./transl.fl)