By Dimitris Delevegos
Greek and foreign airlines are increasing their routes to and from Athens and other top tourism destinations in Greece for the 2025 summer season by airlines that continue to identify more demand for the Greek tourism product.
Aegean, which controls the largest share of local air transport, is adding new connections from 2025, including to Istanbul (from island destinations), while strengthening the connectivity of Greek cities with foreign airports. The airline is also seeking to extend the tourism season, especially in areas such as Hania, for which it will offer 20% more seats on its flights from abroad, with an emphasis on the Scandinavian market, as Aegean CEO Dimitris Gerogiannis recently stated.
Meanwhile the list of foreign airlines that are strengthening their routes to Greece keeps growing. Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea, in which Aegean controls 13%, will connect Araxos – west of Patra – with Lille from April 9. From July 8, it will link Palermo with Iraklio. Brussels Airlines recently announced it is increasing the total number of destinations in Greece to nine, expanding flight frequency to Samos and Lesvos.
The German low-cost Eurowings has added Corfu to its direct connections from Berlin for 2025, expanding its flights to Iraklio, Kos and Rhodes. Italy’s Sky Alps will connect Bolzano with Kefalonia from June 7.
United Airlines increases the flights offered from the US to Athens from seven to 10 per week. American Airlines will connect Charlotte, North Carolina, with Athens from June, with the airline seeking to expand its footprint in Europe. The announcements for the summer routes are also joined by that of Jet2, with the airline connecting Manchester with Athens and Kos respectively with daily and four weekly flights. Also, from June 24, easyJet will start twice-weekly flights from Manchester to Kalamata.
Ryanair, which last summer offered 5.8 million seats to and from Greek destinations, will limit them in summer 2025 to 3.7 million. The Irish low-cost carrier is planning three new routes from Zakynthos to Stockholm and from Corfu and Thessaloniki to Gothenburg.