The American bet for Athens Airport

US airlines gave a vote of confidence to the opening of Greek tourism. The first direct flight between the United States and Greece, after a one-year break due to the pandemic, was on Delta Air Lines and arrived from New York on Saturday morning. Athens Airport, which lost its largest market last year due to Covid-19, is also betting on arrivals from the other side of the Atlantic.

In the last year before the pandemic hit, the US was the strongest tourist market for Athens Airport. In 2019, a record year for Greek tourism, 694,362 arrivals from the USA were recorded, an increase of 2% compared to 2018, and in fact presenting a continuous increase in capacity and frequencies. In the same year, Britain, Germany, and France followed suit.

Dynamic restart

The beginning for the summer of 2021 is very dynamic. Despite the difficult times, this year Athens Airport is welcoming nine daily direct flights from US airlines, more than ever before.

And this is not a coincidence, since the airlines are placed where they see demand turning. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Greece is the first European country in bookings οn the US market. Recently, Forbes presented data from the American Hopper, according to which the bookings of airline tickets to Greece by the users of the platform exceed those to any other destination in Europe. He even attributed this development to the country’s decision to open the borders for vaccinated travelers earlier than other countries.

During the recent presentation of the American Airlines summer program to Greece, the US Ambassador, Geoffrey Pyatt, referred to the choice of the Greek government to send consistent messages in relation to the opening of Greek tourism, from the beginning. He even spoke of “a strong message about the desire of the Greek government to welcome American visitors again.”

In particular, Delta Airlines, this summer, is flying daily from New York to Athens, while in July it will add another route from Atlanta. Delta will fly to Athens with Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

American Airlines also returns to Greece with up to 3 flights a day. Starting June 5, 2021, American Airlines will launch the new summer flight from Athens to New York with a Boeing 777-200 aircraft. Also, on the same day, it restores the seasonal connection between Athens and Chicago, with a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, while on August 18, 2021, the summer routes from Athens to Philadelphia start again, with a Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

United is expanding its connections to Athens for the summer with daily flights from Washington, D.C., via Washington Dulles International Airport from July 1. This new route marks the first daily direct connection between Washington and Athens. It will take place on Boeing787-8 Dreamliner aircraft and will be added to the existing United summer daily route from New York (Newark Liberty International Airport) to Athens, which will reopen on June 3.

The profile of American visitors

American travelers come to our country mainly for leisure and are characterized, in 2019, by strong mobility within Greece. In particular, 83% of those arriving from the US, in 2019, came to Greece for leisure, while 13% came to be reunited with their families. As a result, the US market for Athens Airport is highly seasonal.

The average age of Americans who arrived in Athens in 2019 was 44 years and had, on average booked a ticket 103 days before the trip. The average duration of the trip was 14 days.

Also, American tourists are among the foreign travelers with the highest per capita expenditure, while in 2019 it was high on Bank of Greece (BoG) ranking of the countries that brought the largest travel receipts.

In particular, in 2019, travel receipts from the US increased by 14.3% and amounted to 1,189 million euros, while in the same year travel traffic from the US increased by 7.4% and amounted to 1.179 million travelers. Also, overnight stays from the USA increased by 6.8%.