NICOSIA, May 14. /TASS/: A plane delivering medical equipment from China to Cyprus, which had to land for refueling in Moscow after Turkey refused to allow it to fly through its airspace, has successfully arrived to Larnaca on Wednesday night, Cyprus’s Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Yiannis Karousos said in a Twitter post.
"36 tonnes of medical items for protection against the coronavirus have been delivered to Cyprus from China. The flight did not proceed smoothly, because the Turkish authorities did not allow the plane to fly through the Turkish airspace," he said.
On Wednesday, Karousos said the decision to change the plane’s course has been made, considering that the aircraft does not have enough fuel to bypass the Turkish airspace. The minister also said that now the Cypriot authorities would lodge a diplomatic protest over Ankara’s actions.
According to the data of the aviation web portal Flightradar24.com, the plane flew off from China's Binhai airport for Cyprus at 03:38 local time. It made two circles over the Black Sea and set off for Vnukovo airport where it landed at 14:02 Moscow time. After refueling, the plane continued its flight to Cyprus via the airspace of Bulgaria. It delivered to Cyprus face masks, shoe covers, disposable surgical suits and other protective clothing weighing a total of 36 tonnes.
