New airline looks to link Greece with North America

Posted by Seth Miller on December 15, 2012 under News | 9 Comments to Read

When Delta suspended their service between New York City‘s JFK airport and Athens for this winter it marked the first time in 70 years that direct service was not available between Greece and the USA. Two airlines have recently indicated that they are going to try to fill that gap. Doha-based Qatar Airways intends to serve Doha-Athens-JFK on their 787 starting in 2013. And upstart carrier SkyGreece intends to serve several North America destinations from a hub in Athens.

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The company’s website doesn’t offer much in the way of details so it would be easy to dismiss them as a flash in the pan. Their Facebook page, however, seems to have a bit more substance to it. The page has only been alive a month at this point but they’ve started posting details about the management team they’re hiring and they seem to have real employees lined up. The plan is to fly with only Greek in-flight crews on an Airbus A340-300. The schedule is expected to be released in a few weeks; initial indications are that New York will see service three times weekly while Toronto and Montreal will have one flight each. One source suggests that South Africa will also join the route map at some point.

It is hard to believe that there is so much demand for service between the markets that multiple carriers will be able to make a go of it successfully. Especially considering the state of the Greek economy.

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  1. mikedlk said,

    You meansince the 70′s, not in 70 years!!!

  2. Jerry said,

    I think Air Transat (charter Canaddian company) still flies YYZ-ATH, at least when I flew in 2010 for Honeymoon

    but it’s nice to see so many competitions, despite that I won’t visit Greece again anytime soon

  3. Tom // Sit in first said,

    Will they status-match from A3? ;)

  4. TravelBloggerBuzz said,

    I follow the Greek Press and I have not seen this company mentioned before. A big time Greek journalist said this on twitter about the same news item you linked to “Is this for real?”
    Just fyi

  5. Stephan said,

    Not sure I want to fly any Greek startup airlines anytime soon…

  6. Nick said,

    Well Air Canada Rouge starts off in July 1 2013 and under $1000 can fly non stop Toronto or Montreal to Athens Greece, with flights every day of the week.
    So i can see a price war for costumers by the other airlines this summer 2013. exmpl ( airtransat-skygreece)

  7. Air Canada Launches Discount Carrier, Rouge | Lombok Beach Hotel said,

    [...] addition in capacity into a market which has seen massive cuts in recent years. It also comes as multiple other carriers have indicated they will be adding service between Athens and North America. Qatar Airways aims to add service to New York City and SkyGreece is reported launching in 2013 and [...]

  8. Air Canada Launches Discount Carrier, Rouge | EazyBookings.com said,

    [...] addition in capacity into a market which has seen massive cuts in recent years. It also comes as multiple other carriers have indicated they will be adding service between Athens and North America. Qatar Airways aims to add service to New York City and SkyGreece is reported launching in 2013 and [...]

  9. Air Canada Launches Discount Carrier, Rouge | TravelBestRates said,

    [...] addition in capacity into a market which has seen massive cuts in recent years. It also comes as multiple other carriers have indicated they will be adding service between Athens and North America. Qatar Airways aims to add service to New York City and SkyGreece is reported launching in 2013 and [...]

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