Crete-based Minoan Air is to launch flights from Oxford airport to both Edinburgh and Dublin from March.
The carrier will be the first Greek airline to establish an operational base outside of Greece, when it launches twice-daily flights (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) between Oxford and Edinburgh on March 4, followed by two flights per day (Wednesday and Friday) to Dublin on March 6.
Both routes will then increase to twice-daily Monday to Friday from May 10, along with a Sunday service.
Flights will depart Oxford for Edinburgh at 0730 and 1730, arriving at 0900 and 1900, with the return legs leaving at 0940 and 1945, landing back into Oxford at 1110 and 2115.
The Dublin bound services will depart at 0630 and 1630, arriving into Ireland at 0800 and 1800, with the return legs departing Dublin at 0845 and 1845, landing back into Oxford at 1015 and 2015.
The routes will be operated by Fokker 50 aircraft, with lead-in fares from £50 each way, including taxes.
Commenting on the news Minoan Air’s CCO Marcos Caramalengos said that the carrier is “already considering the possibility of introducing further routes from Oxford”.
Regular readers of businesstraveller.com will remember a start-up carrier called Varsity Express which launched flights from Oxford airport to Edinburgh in 2010, only to cease operations after just one week (see online news March 10, 2010).
Other carriers to have operated scheduled services from Oxford include the now defunct Swiss carrier Baboo, and Manx2, which dropped its service to and from The Isle of Man on January 7.
