On Thursday, June 3, a full flight of passengers boarded American Airlines flight 334 at gate 12 of JFK International Airport’s Terminal 8. It was a special flight– marking the first time the airline was headed to Athens from its New York hub.
The inaugural flight was launched in a festive atmosphere with speeches and videos from the Greek National Tourist organization, the Greek Consul General in New York Dr. Konstantinos Koutras.
The flight’s captain and commander of the Boeing 777-200 aircraft that would shuttle the passengers safely across the Atlantic was Manolis Gavalas, a Greek American pilot who enthusiastically stated at the kick off event that “we’ve been waiting years for this flight and are excited to finally launch it.”
Vice President of American Airlines Eastern Sales Division Jim Carter was also on hand for the celebratory event and boarded the flight with hundreds of passengers.
Peter Vlitas, a well-known travel executive and an individual who has been instrumental in supporting Greece’s efforts to expand its tourism footprint in the United States congratulated the Greek government for making “the early decision to allow Americans to visit Greece with a CDC Vaccine Card or negative PCR test,” paving the way for a massive influx of travelers during the the end of a pandemic.
The flight between New York City and Athens will be operated daily during the summer season. The aircraft has 212 seats in its main cabin, 24 seats in its premium economy section and 37 business class seats.
The JFK flight will be one of three to serve the Greek capital.
Daily service between Chicago’s O’Hare International and Eleftherios Venizelos in Athens commenced on June 4 and service from Philadelphia will resume on August 17.
As the flight departed the gate, water cannons gave it a proper send off to the Greek capital.
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