Greece Now Allows Direct Flights from the UK

Photo source: Gatwick Airport

Greece on Wednesday, July 15, opened its skies to the United Kingdom and is now allowing direct flights from the country, following the lifting of a travel ban taken to limit the further spread of the Covid-19 virus.

“We always enjoy the company of our friends from the UK and we’re very happy that our health experts agreed and allowed us to open the connectivity again,” Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis said today on Sky News.

Underlining that Greece is seeing a spike in Covid-19 cases, Sky News hostess Kay Burley asked the minister how safe is it for Brits to travel to Greece.

“We opened our connections from July 1 and we are monitoring the situation, which is currently stable. We are looking at the numbers and the procedures that we have put in place and are very happy with the results. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not vigilant and that doesn’t mean that we don’t continue to monitor the situation… If anything, we will take targeted measures,” Minister Theoharis said.

Moreover, referring to articles claiming that Greece is examining a possible lockdown again, Minister Theoharis said it was all “nonsense”.

“This is certainly not the case and I would like to refute that Greece has opened its doors to foreign tourists from Europe mainly and this will continue to be the case,” he said.

When asked if Greece will ban British arrivals, as it did with citizens from Serbia, if the UK sees a second wave of the coronavirus, the minister repeated that Greece is monitoring the situation.

“The UK for a number of weeks is certainly going in the right direction… I’m very confident that the UK is firmly under control of the situation and we will not need to take any measures,” Minister Theoharis said.

However, should Greece need to impose measures on travel from the UK, it will be only to ensure the health of visitors and its citizens in order to safeguard the country’s effectiveness in dealing with the pandemic which was evident throughout the past months, the minister underlined.

The first British travelers to Greece from the UK arrived today on charter flights to the airports of Zakynthos, Rhodes and Heraklion. Seven flights to Athens from the UK are scheduled for tomorrow, July 16.

For information on traveling to Greece in the post-Covid-19 era, press here.