Delta to Resume Daily Service Between Athens and New York for 25th Year
Airline will offer up to 14 weekly flights this summer
Delta Air Lines, which marks its 25th anniversary of service to Greece this year, will restart its nonstop service from Athens to New York-JFK, effective April 5.
During the peak summer season between June 17 and the end of September 2016, the airline will operate a second daily frequency on the route.
“We are proud to mark our 25th anniversary of service to Greece, which remains a popular vacation destination for our customers, with almost 148,000 flying on our Athens-New York flights in 2015,” said Nat Pieper, Delta’s Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“This summer will be offering more than 4,000 weekly seats during the peak season and are honoured to be recognised for our commitment to Greece by Athens International Airport (AIA),” he added.
AIA recently awarded Delta a high distinction in the award category, “Fastest Growing Airline Seasonal Non-European Route”.
Marking its 25th anniversary of service to Greece this year, Delta has transported more than 1.5 million passengers between Athens and the United States since its inaugural flight on November 1, 1991.
Delta’s summer season flights to Athens are scheduled as follows:
Flight number | Departs | Arrives | Frequency |
DL213 | Athens 12:30 | New York-JFK 16:28 | Daily |
DL413 | New York-JFK 17:39 | Athens 10:30 next day | Daily |
DL214 | Athens 14:10 | New York-JFK 17:59 | Daily until 6 September |
DL414 | New York-JFK 19:30 | Athens 12:10 next day | Daily until 5 September |
DL214 | Athens 14:10 | New York-JFK 17:59 | Every Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday until end of September |
DL414 | New York-JFK 19:30 | Athens 12:10 next day | Every Monday-Wednesday-Friday until end of September |
Both Athens-New York flights will operate using Airbus A330 and Boeing 767 aircraft, all of which are equipped with Wi-Fi so customers can stay connected at 30,000 feet. From New York-JFK customers can conveniently transfer onto more than 60 destinations, including Los Angeles, Orlando and San Francisco.
Delta’s Athens services are operated in conjunction with joint venture partners, Air France KLM.
All well and good to see the NYC market getting a full compliment of direct flights during the peak summer season.
However, Greece needs the air service situation brought up to the next level. Three things need to be done, to maximize the income brought in by visitors.
(1)A daily summer flight from a Midwest connection hub city, that also has a strong local market for Greece….meaning Chicago and/or Detroit.
(2)Winter service from New York, once or twice a week. There are people that do come in the off-season to Greece for a variety of reasons….as in visiting friends and relatives, going to museums, eating tasty food, shopping…and dare I say business travel??
(3)Summer service Boston-Athens 2x/week.