During the next three years the airline purchased an additional three DC-3 aircraft and introduced services to Alexandria, Amman, Bahrain, Khartoum (via Haifa) and Lod.

[5] In 1952, BEA took over the Cyprus Airways service to London with an Airspeed Ambassador, which featured a pressurized cabin that allowed nonstop routing avoiding a stopover in Athens.

On 18 April 1953, BEA began using its newly delivered Vickers Viscount 701 on their scheduled service from London to Rome and Athens.

It also decided to sell all the Douglas DC-3 and Auster aircraft in September 1957 and entered into a five-year agreement with BEA for the latter to operate services on behalf of Cyprus Airways.

Thereafter, Cypriot nationals began to be hired and trained for the flight crews, which had previously been made up of British expatriates from BEA.

[8] BEA began introducing Comet 4B jets on all routes in 1961 via a joint aircraft pool arrangement that included Greece's Olympic Airways.

[9] On 5 April 1960, BEA introduced de Havilland Comet 4B aircraft on the Nicosia, Athens, Rome and London routes.

The faster planes allowed more European trade centres (Frankfurt, Manchester, Brussels, and Paris) to be added to the timetable.

The two other Tridents were only lightly damaged by small arms fire and were flown out of Nicosia by British Airways engineers to the United Kingdom in 1977.

They used their 6x6 Leyland Recovery vehicle to remove the tail section of one of the destroyed planes and to lift the repaired engines into place.

Cyprus Airways leased a pair of DC-9 jets in August 1975 to resume its own flights to London (via Salonika).

A change in ownership structure had taken place, with British Airways selling all but 5 percent of the shares it had inherited from BEA to the Cypriot government.

Profits reached record levels in the mid-1980s as the airline added service from new UK cities (Cardiff, Newcastle, and Glasgow).

British Airways divested the last of its shares in 1991, leaving the government with an 80.46 percent stake and private investors, the remainder.

The airline was flying high, introducing a livery and uniforms as the Airbuses plied new routes to Berlin and Helsinki.

Cyprus Airways had also joined the SABRE international computer reservations system and set up a tour operation in the United Kingdom.

Cyprus added many new cooperation agreements with other airlines as it developed its international reach by linking Europe and the Middle East.

After a rough couple of years, the company posted a CYP 13 million profit in 1994 thanks to cost-cutting and marketing efforts.

[15] As a result of a restructuring programme to curb the continued losses, most Middle East destinations were cut from the timetable in 2011/2012, including Bahrain, Cairo, Damascus, Dubai and Jeddah.

[22] On 13 March 2014 Cyprus Airways confirmed the sale of its second slot at London Heathrow Airport to the Lebanese company Middle East Airlines for €6.3 million.

[28] S7 CEO Vladislav Filev said that the Charlie name was inspired by the nickname handed to expatriated Cypriots that had left the island.

[30] Charlie Airlines Ltd filed an application to receive a local Air operator's certificate and acquire the right to use the Cyprus Airways trademarks for ten years for 2 million euros.

As of February 2014[update], Cyprus Airways had codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[42] On 25 July 2011, Cyprus Airways signed a code-share agreement with Virgin Atlantic, allowing the Cypriot market to travel to Boston, New York, Newark, Los Angeles, Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen on flights operated by Virgin using both Virgin and Cyprus Airways flight numbers, with connecting flights at London–Heathrow.

Prior to the airline's shutdown, Cyprus Airways had a fleet of fourteen Airbus A320 aircraft of an average age of 11.3 years.

The vertical stabilizer was blue, with yellow lines depicting a galloping Cypriot mouflon, a type of wild sheep only found in Cyprus.

The larger A330 aircraft, operated between 2002 and 2011 and used mainly on longer flights to London Heathrow, Paris, and Amsterdam, but also occasionally to Manchester, Athens, and Zurich, had individual screens for each passenger, mounted on the back of the seats, offering many more options in video and audio entertainment.

Business class was named after the ancient Greek god Apollo, who was a symbol of harmony, order, and reason.

Additionally, meals were served to business class passengers, with a selection of international and Cypriot cuisine on offer.