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Cyprus Airport Fast Track: Express Lane and VIP Lounges

What Express Lane at Larnaca gives you, what it costs and how to buy it, whether Paphos has fast track, what business lounges there are and how to save time for free.

Cyprus InformEditorial team

26 October 2026 7 min read

Cyprus Airport Fast Track: Express Lane and VIP Lounges

Checked: 25 October 2026.

Cyprus airport fast track: in brief

At Cyprus airports the paid ‘fast track’ is called Express Lane. According to the operator, Hermes Airports, it is a separate queue on departure that gets passengers to security screening faster; there is also an Express Lane in the arrivals area, before the border control kiosks.

Larnaca is the only airport where Express Lane can be bought online in advance. Under Hermes Airports’ terms, it speeds up the queue but does not exempt you from screening and does not guarantee that there will be no queue at all.

Below we explain what Express Lane includes, how to buy it, where airlines sell fast track, what Paphos Airport offers, what business lounges there are and which free ways to save time are open to everyone.

What Express Lane includes and what it does not

An Express Lane ticket is valid in the passenger security screening area at Larnaca Airport. Hermes Airports states plainly that it does not entitle you to bypass security procedures: you go through the same screening, just from a separate queue.

Express Lane does not let you skip passport control. Cyprus is in the European Union but, as the Cyprus Mail reported in September 2026, it is not yet a full member of the Schengen area, so border checks remain in place on flights to and from Cyprus.

Nothing changes for the other stages of the journey either: check-in and bag drop, boarding and baggage reclaim after arrival follow the normal procedure. Check-in closing time is still set by the airline.

How to buy it and what it costs

Express Lane at Larnaca, as well as the Skala Lounge at Larnaca and the Premium Lounge at Paphos, is booked on the Hermes Airports booking site. Under the operator’s terms, you pay for every passenger, including infants and children; one order can include up to 10 tickets, and each ticket can be used once.

You pay by card in euros when booking, and the ticket barcode is scanned at the entrance to the separate queue. Tickets are non-refundable, including when the passenger does not show up.

Hermes Airports does not publish the price on its static pages. According to the Cyprus Mail, as of 3 September 2026 the booking portal was offering passage to the departures area from 6 euros per person; check the current price before you buy.

Fast track sold by airlines

Some airlines sell fast-track security themselves or include it in their more expensive fares. According to its website and the Cyprus Mail, Aegean Airlines lists Larnaca among the airports in its Fast Track programme; the service applies only to flights operated by Aegean and Olympic Air themselves.

According to the Cyprus Mail, the service costs six euros on Aegean and Olympic Air flights, and business-class passengers and status holders who meet the airline’s criteria get it free. Terms change, so check them in your account or with the airline.

If your airline does not offer fast track, there is still the Hermes Airports service at Larnaca. Before buying Express Lane, check your fare conditions and your boarding pass: the Cyprus Mail recommends this so that you do not pay for fast-track access twice.

Fast track at Paphos Airport

The situation at Paphos is less clear. According to Hermes Airports, online booking of Express Lane is available only for Larnaca, and the operator’s materials are inconsistent about whether such a queue exists at Paphos. So do not count on paid fast track at Paphos in advance.

Paphos does, however, have the Premium Lounge, in the departures area opposite Gate 7. Hermes Airports says it is open to passengers in any class of travel, opens two hours before all scheduled flights and can be booked online.

If getting through security quickly at Paphos matters to you, ask your airline whether fast track is included in your fare, and get to the airport early: Hermes Airports advises arriving at least two hours before departure.

Business lounges and the VIP terminal

Larnaca has two lounges on the third floor. The Skala Lounge is open day and night, entry is paid, alcoholic drinks are included, and there are family and work areas. The Aegean business lounge is open to the airline’s business-class passengers and holders of Miles+Bonus Gold and Star Alliance Gold status.

According to the trade publication Acukwik Alert, in 2010 Skylink opened a separate business aviation terminal at Larnaca, and the government entrusted the company with a lounge for heads of state. As the publication reported in 2010, this is infrastructure for private aircraft and official visits, not a service for passengers on scheduled flights.

Online you will find intermediaries selling ‘VIP meet and greet’ at Cyprus airports. These are not Hermes Airports products: before you pay, find out who actually provides the service on the spot and what exactly it includes.

Free ways to save time and concessions

You can save time without paying extra. At both airports, e-gates let you into the security area with your boarding pass, and BorderXpress kiosks at passport control scan your document and match your face against it.

According to Hermes Airports, passengers with reduced mobility go through Express Lane at Larnaca free of charge. People with autism and their families have the same right: to use it, go to the assistance desk in the check-in area.

Do not confuse fast track with the compulsory security charge: under Hermes Airports’ tariffs, since 1 June 2026 it has been €3.96 per departing passenger; it is an airport charge, not a service, and it does not give you a separate queue.

Continue planning

Official sources

The check-in hall at Larnaca Airport · Photo: A.Savin · FAL · converted to WebP and resized.

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