Airlines are intensifying competition with new direct flights in a bid to increase their market share on routes from America to Greece.
Despite the increasing costs and extended flight times, airlines continue to give a vote of confidence to Greece, based on data from which it emerges that the growth rates of the US market are the highest among the five major markets of Greek tourism, which include Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy.
The record number of flights from America, 103 per week, this year, brought high tourism receipts, which exceeded 700 million euros for the first time in the first half of 2025 and 247 million euros for June. The increase in receipts for the period January – June 2025 corresponds to 29.4%, reaching 704 million euros from 544 million euros in the corresponding period in 2024, while in June the increase reached 65%, with receipts of 247 million euros.
Given that the US market also records higher spending, tourism market players report, it seems that it is the one that can largely determine the overall course of receipts in 2025, with tourism receipts having risen for the first time to 21.6 billion euros including cruises, above last year’s levels.
The Spanish company World2Fly has been operating on the Athens – Madrid route since this year, and it is the fourth Spanish company that connects Greece with Spain.
Moreover, since the end of June, Sichuan Airlines, the third Chinese company, which now flies from “Eleftherios Venizelos” Airport, began its flights to the city of Chengdu from Athens, via Istanbul. The other two are Air China and Juneyao Airlines.
In essence, through Sichuan, the part of Western China is covered, for which there was a gap until now. This company is the largest in Western China, with 151 destinations, in addition to domestic ones, from Australia to the USA.
The Greece-China route, with the addition of Sichuan, now has 12 weekly itineraries to destinations such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. This, according to Athens International Airport executives, marks a 138% increase in flights from China compared to 2019.
However, in addition to the new entries, there are also the returns of companies and destinations to AIA. This is Sky Up, the Ukrainian charter and low-cost airline based in Kiev, which began its operations in May 2018 and has now returned to Athens, after three years, with direct flights Athens-Chisinau, Moldova throughout the year, twice a week. The company’s operations in Greece had stopped in 2022, due to the war in Ukraine.
In addition, a few months ago, the direct Athens-Tirana flight by Air Albania was restarted after two years, and is experiencing increased demand.
Finally, the low-cost airline Indigo, based in India, is entering the Greek market in 2026 with direct flights from Athens to major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai. This is a significant entry, as it is the second largest airline in Asia, carrying over 31.9 million passengers in 2024, while in 2025 it is expected to close for the company with a turnover that will exceed 10 billion dollars.
It is noted that India is one of the fastest growing tourism powers internationally, with a growing middle class and travel spending estimated to reach 45 billion dollars in 2030, while it is a market that domestic agents generally wish to develop further.
