Fraport Greece Aiming for Direct Flights from Asian, Arab Markets

Fraport Greece executive director of commercial and business development George Vilos; IATA manager, business Development – Europe Desny Bradshaw; Alpha TV journalist Stavros Monemvasiotis.

Riding the momentum of growing tourist flows, Fraport Greece aims to boost direct flights from Asian and Arab markets to Thessaloniki airport, the company’s executive director of commercial and business development George Vilos said during the 33rd Philoxenia expo over the weekend.

Reaching out to new markets is part of the German airport operator’s plans to transform Thessaloniki’s  Macedonia Airport, which marked a 13.3 percent rise in incoming traffic, up by 600,000 visitors, in the nine months to September 2017, into a Balkan hub.

Speaking on “Tourism from Asia: Greece as a Destination and Gateway to Europe”, Vilos added that once direct links are in place, incoming traffic is bound to contribute to the extension of the tourism season. In this direction, he pointed to Qatar Airways’ newly added direct flights between Doha and Thessaloniki to kick off in March.

Thessaloniki airport currently caters to some 45,000 travelers from Asia and Australia. Express visa services will also contribute greatly to stronger flows.

At the same time, the director of communications and marketing for Athens International Airport Ioanna Papadopoulou reiterated the importance of providing direct connections with the Asian market which is expressing all the more interest in visiting Greece.

The Greek Travel Pages (GTP)  was a media sponsor of the 33rd Philoxenia exhibition.