Athens Among the First to Reactivate Direct Flights to China

Athens International Airport.

Athens is among the first cities to have most reactivated its connection with China for 2023, found a study released this week by Mabrian Technologies.

Athens ranked 4^th after Budapest, Lisbon and Warsaw on a list of cities leading the rate of recovery of air connectivity with China in the post-Covid era.

More specifically, Budapest increased air connectivity with China by 138 percent, Lisbon by 107 percent and Warsaw by 6 percent in 2023 over 2019.

Athens, meanwhile, is still 38 percent below 2019 levels with regard to reactivation of direct flights to China this year.

In January, Athens International Airport (AIA) said it was expecting to see a sharp rise in Chinese arrivals to Greece after the country reopened its borders and thanks to the recent launch of Air China’s direct flight connecting Shanghai with the Greek capital.

Source: Mabrian Technologies.

Further down the list were cities like Minsk, Frankfurt, and Munich and some of the most traditionally visited European capitals such as Rome, Paris and Madrid which have volumes between 72 and 90 percent below the pre-Covid period.

The study, based on air connectivity data from flights connecting the world’s main cities with China, was carried out after China lifted three years of Covid restrictions.

Photo source: Air China

In view of the news, the world’s major capitals are working to recover activity with the Chinese market. According to Mabrian Technologies, flight recovery will be gradual despite the high demand and will require some time for airlines to reschedule and redistribute their capacity to respond to demand.

“In order to be competitive and recover the Chinese market more quickly, it is key to closely follow the evolution of connectivity, to know the possible change in the interests and preferences of travelers after the pandemic and benchmark competing destinations,” said Carlos Cendra, director of Marketing and Sales at Mabrian Technologies.