Minister Kountoura: Three Airlines to Run Direct NY-Athens Flights
Three US-based carriers will be offering direct flights from New York to Athens, Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura said during her trip to the US for the 17th New York Capital Link “Invest in Greece” Forum held in the “Big Apple” last month.
Speaking to Astoria-based New Greek TV, Mrs Kountoura said that Delta, United and American airlines would be handling passenger traffic to Greece in the upcoming summer season.
The minister also added that despite having proposed Greece’s largest carrier, Aegean Airlines, launch direct flights between Greece and the US, there has been no such decision yet.
Diaspora Greeks as well as tour operators have repeatedly called for year-round flights to the homeland, particularly after a number of international carriers stopped offering direct services over the last few years.
Markopoulo-based airline SkyGreece, founded in October 2012, aimed to offer non-stop flights between Greece and North America all year round, however, last November the company declared bankruptcy only months into operation.
Let’s stop with skygreece. That airline was run by four idiots who had no business being in the transportion field. Father Hollywood was more failed businesses than duggers have kids. Greece will get more flights when non stop service is priced equal with connecting flights.
It’s good that things are finally starting to shape up in the USA to Greece air service market. But it still is not enough.
As mentioned, we still need some service year-round. People do have to visit famililes, as well as go to Greece for business purposes during the non-summer months.
Additionally, service from Chicago to Athens is long overdue. The USA’s “Second City” has a large Greek population. Plus there are a number of cities that do not have useful flights to Philadelphia or the NYC airports—but do have flights to Chicago. With two large carriers both having major hubs at O’Hare, they can certainly provide more convenient connections to Greece from the secondary and smaller markets.