Air China to launch direct Beijing-Athens flights

Direct flights between Athens and Beijing are going to launch even sooner than we expected. As it was announced on Monday, during a press conference at the Chinese Embassy in Athens, Air China flight schedule to the Greek capital will commence in September.

Air China’s Airbus A330-200, will make the first trial flight this Wednesday, and from September flights will become available on a regular basis and more specifically, on Wednesdays and Saturdays every week.

This is yet another significant success of Athens International Airport’s management, which, after the reunification of the Greek capital with New York (with Emirates) and the newly introduced cooperation with Scoot, which connects Athens to Singapore, succeeded in bringing the Chinese giant on board. It is worth mentioning that before the financial crisis, Air China flew to Athens through a stopover in Munich, Germany.

A strong incentive of those international direct flights reinstatement, is of course the spike of Chinese tourists to our country and the increasing needs of China’s entrepreneurs for a direct connection with Greece. Regarding tourism, over the recent period, significant moves have also been made to increase the number of Chinese tourists, opting for cruise-travelling in the Aegean Sea. This came about, especially after the initiative of Cosco and Celestyal Cruises to establish a business co-operation.

The launch of Beijing-Athens direct flights comes in the conjuncture of Thessaloniki International Fair where China will be in the spotlight, as it is proclaimed to be the country of honor. 

This article was edited using information from Xinhuanet