Olympic Air, announces the launch of its new Athens – Tel Aviv – Athens route from March 9th, 2012. Constantly upgrading its services to meet the needs of passengers, Olympic Air adds Israel to its regular flight schedule, thus, enhancing its presence in the Middle East, and implementing its strategic planning in the Eastern Mediterranean area.
The new route is tailored for passengers with business affairs in both countries, while it also meets the needs of passengers traveling on vacation or recreation. Given that the broader area of Israel is hosting some of the most important shrines of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the route is also intended to cover the so called religious tourism, which represents an important share of the relevant market. Continuous improvement in Greek – Israeli relations necessitate a major increase of air routes between the two countries, and in line with this the new route satisfies the increased flow of Israeli tourists to Greece.
Furthermore Olympic Air’s new route offers special advantages and privileges:
For passengers travelling on the Tel Aviv – Athens leg, Olympic Air offers connecting flights to destinations in the Balkans, Cyprus, Greece, and the Greek islands in a network that no other airline offers.
Travelers from Tel Aviv to Athens may access Greece by visiting the Greek capital, Athens, and onwards to 31 domestic destinations currently served.
Connecting flights to the Greek islands are of special focus as the flow of Israeli tourists to Greece is constantly increasing.
Passengers on the new route will also enjoy the advantage of highly competitive departure and arrival times. Flights from Tel Aviv to Athens will be operated by Airbus A320/A319 three times a week, every Monday, Friday and Sunday. On Monday and Friday time of departure from Tel Aviv will be 13:20 and Sunday 15:20. Respectively departures from Athens on Monday and Friday are scheduled for 10:35am and Sunday for 11:55am. (All times are local). During the summer period the frequency of flights will increase to four per week, adding one more flight every Thursday. Flight time is 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Olympic Air’s deputy CEO Mr. George Efstratiadis, commented:
“It is a great pleasure for Olympic Air to return to Israel. The city of Tel Aviv used to be an important destination for Olympic since 1958 and today we are quite excited to announce the reactivation of the Athens -Tel Aviv – Athens route.
The route’s launch coincides with significant developments across the board of regional and business relations in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Improving relations between Greece and Israel, especially in business affairs require flexible and efficient travel services between the two countries. On the other hand the increased flow of tourism calls for a general increase in air routes and capacities. Greek tourists are travelling very often to visit the Holy Lands and other religious shrines, while the Greek islands are becoming increasingly attractive for Israeli tourists.
This is exactly where Olympic aims. To offer highly competitive travel schedules, with unsurpassed quality and attractive price. For Olympic Air the launch of the Tel Aviv route represents another significant step towards the implementation of its strategic planning: leadership in the eastern Mediterranean region”.
The coastal city of Tel Aviv is located 1,200 kms (745 miles) from Athens. It is one of world’s most interesting cities, with important trade and industry, remarkable culture, attractions and tourist facilities. It is a centre of high-end technology, major universities, museums, archaeological sites and religious shrines. Very close to Greece, in an era of economic developments in the Mediterranean, Tel Aviv is a great place to combine business trips with leisure holidays and religious tourism.
