Ryanair Reduces Thessaloniki – Athens Service for Summer 2017

Ryanair announced on Wednesday that it is reducing the frequency of its Thessaloniki – Athens route from seven to three daily business friendly services next summer.

The low-cost carrier said it was reducing the domestic service in the absence of confirmed runway availability next summer at Thessaloniki and in order to enable as many international flights as possible.

Thessaloniki International Airport “Macedonia”.

“These poorly timed runway works and ongoing lack of clarity on runway availability, leave Ryanair with no choice but to reduce some domestic flights, in favour of delivering more international tourists on direct flights into Thessaloniki next summer”, Ryanair’s Sales & Marketing Manager for Greece, Chiara Ravara, said.

Ryanair will operate 19 international routes at Thessaloniki next summer, including 4 new routes to Copenhagen, Dortmund, Gothenburg and Hamburg, and a new daily summer service to Berlin, facilitating international traffic by a reduced Athens service.

“We remain committed to growing at Thessaloniki, through maximising international leisure traffic, while sustaining business friendly domestic low fares for our Greek customers… We look forward to working with the new airport owner, Fraport Greece, once the airport is fully operational”, Ravara added.

Thessaloniki’s airport is one of the 14 Greek regional airports soon to be operated by Fraport.

Plans unveiled in October regarding the airport include significant improvements to increase both capacity and service quality such as a 47 percent increase in the number of check-in counters, a 75 percent rise in the number of baggage claim belts, a 50 percent increase in the number of gates, and doubling of the number of security lanes.

The construction works also include improving apron areas, creating new power-in/push-back parking stands for aircraft, refurbishing airside pavement, and building a new fire station that will meet international standards and feature functional design.