Greece is officially open to Americans, and Delta is ready to help them get there.
The Atlanta-based airline announced Friday it would resume nonstop flights from New York City (JFK) to Athens (ATH) this spring after more than a year on pause. Plus, Delta is adding a brand new route to the Greek capital: Atlanta (ATL) to Athens early this coming summer.
Delta's flight from New York will resume May 28, with twice daily service on a 293-seat Airbus A330. That's the same plane Delta will fly to Athens from Atlanta daily starting July 2. Delta is bringing back nonstop flights from its Atlanta hub to Greece for the first time in a decade.
Airlines are eager to ferry any travelers heading abroad that they can after a dismal year, and Greece is a sure bet after speeding up its plans to reopen to Americans and other foreigners. The Mediterranean country opened to travelers on Monday, allowing visitors who can show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours before arrival.
“Outdoor-friendly destinations like Greece are particularly in demand and flying Delta means you can continue to expect award-winning hospitality with new services to make the entire journey more enjoyable, simple and stress-free,” Delta Senior Vice President of Network Planning Joe Esposito said in a statement.
Delta isn't alone in adding flights to Greece. Within hours of its opening, United announced it would add nonstop daily flights from Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Athens – in addition to its existing flights from Newark (EWR).
And with competition heating up to Greece as travel demand surges, airfare is dropping. We've sent record-setting low fares to Athens to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members recently, including this $455 nonstop fare available all summer, fall, and into February 2022.
While most of Europe is still closed to Americans, a handful of countries have opened their borders. Iceland was the first to welcome back Americans back in mid-March, when it reopened to fully vaccinated travelers. After closing down for much of the fall and winter, Croatia followed up by welcoming travelers with proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test. And now, even France is signaling it plans to open in time for summer travel.
Those reopenings have airlines making their moves to restart international flights. Delta doubled down on Iceland with new flights from Boston (BOS) in addition to bringing back flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and New York City. United also announced new service to Reykjavik (KEF) as well as a brand new flight to Dubrovnik (DBV) this week.
Bottom Line
If Greece is on your radar for this summer and beyond, you'll soon have more options to get there.
Summer 2021 is going to be a travel season unlike any other. While the whole world may not be ready to open to travelers, many tourism-hungry countries like Greece, Iceland, and others are. And that means we'll keep seeing exciting new routes to get there.
You might want to mention that while you can travel to Greece it remains under a lock down with almost everything closed so why bother?