Greece Welcomes First Direct Flight from Shanghai

Greece welcomed the first direct flight from Shanghai last month after the country’s flag carrier Air China announced the launch of routes to Athens International Airport (AIA).

Air China reinstated its flights to Greece for the first time after stopping its routes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The flight from China’s largest city to the Greek capital lasts 10 hours and 30 minutes. Air China currently connects Greece to China with one flight a week from Beijing to Athens Airport and one from Shanghai. The news was welcomed by local and Chinese tour operators.

Air China was planning to increase its direct services between Athens and Beijing to meet high travel demand in 2019 but then Covid-19 broke out and all airline operations were suspended in 2020.

Last week, ahead of China’s opening to tourism, Ambassador to Greece Xiao Junzheng referred to the Athens-Shanghai link, adding that cooperation between Greece and China was developing a strong momentum.

Commenting on the news to Chinese news agency Xinhua, AIA Director of Communications and Marketing Ioanna Papadopoulou said the Chinese market was very important for AIA and confirmed that before the pandemic, it was one of the fastest growing markets.

She went on to add that the launch of direct flights between Shanghai and Athens was a “very important development for AIA, for the city and the country”.

“We hope and wish that in 2023 this is going to be one of our most successful operations. We missed China and we missed Chinese travelers a lot,” she said.

Last March, Greece and China agreed to work together on enhancing tourist flows between the two countries, targeted promotional activities, the development of alternative forms of tourism and boosting tourism-related investments. The joint action plan also includes the continuation of the Greece-China Year of  Culture and Tourism activities, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the World Tourism Alliance (WTA).