Air transport: Expectations for the Greek summer remain high

Of Costa Ketsietzis

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis do not lower the expectations of the aviation market for the demand for travel to our country this summer. The airlines are proceeding normally with their planning, closing positions at “El. Venizelos” and the regional airports, as well as due to the performance of the previous two years of the pandemic, our country is considered a safe and secure destination.

This is the assessment of the management of Aegean, which is preparing from next week to start increasing the capacity of its flights with most of the company’s fleets operating from the airports of Athens and Thessaloniki and about 20% to be invested in regional airports.

Although in 2022 the industry is expected to operate for another year under pandemic conditions, the airline administration estimates that the demand conditions in the summer will continue to follow the recovery path that began in 2021. This is also evident from the bookings for summer, despite the slight decline observed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

New itineraries

Other airlines are taking their places, such as the Spanish Volotea, which this summer will fly to 14 Greek airports, including nine new itineraries starting from April 2. In total, the company will activate from and to our country about 1.4 million positions, about 28% more than in 2019.

According to Valeria Rebasti, Country Manager Italy & Southeastern Europe of Volotea during the presentation of the company’s flight program in our country for this year, the demand for travel is expected to increase despite the temporary restraint observed in bookings due to the war. For another year, the trend of last minute bookings will prevail, even just a week before the trip.

As we enter the summer season, more and more airlines will reveal their plans for this year. For example, next week Air Canada will launch the resumption of its flights from Toronto and Montreal to Athens, while Jet2 will announce the launch of flights from Athens to Birmingham and Manchester for this summer.

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Aegean: The prospects and expectations for 2022