U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt was on hand at the Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos on Tuesday to welcome Delta Air Lines’ inaugural direct flight from across the Atlantic.
Direct flights from the U.S. to Greece began on March 7 — weeks earlier than previous years ahead of the highly-anticipated summer tourism season.
“First of all, congratulations, Minister [Kikilias]. I want to say congratulations also to Delta,” Pyatt said during his remarks. “This is the first American flight of this tourism year for which we have extremely high expectations.”
Greece expects tourist numbers from the U.S and Canada to increase this summer after two years of COVID-19 restrictions that negatively impacted travel.
In early February, the Greek government lifted the mandatory COVID testing before travel requirement for fully vaccinated travelers coming from the U.S., Canada and Australia.
“Greece has so much to offer. The spring is a fantastic time of the year here. And I’m really excited that we have the first of our direct American flights. The earliest it’s ever been,” Pyatt said. “This is just the start. We’re going to have a record number of direct flights from the United States this year.”
The ambassador continued: “I also want to say, since we’re meeting against the background of the terrible developments in Ukraine, how much I admire you, minister, for your clear statements about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also the tourism ministry’s initiatives to provide jobs in the tourism sector for the Ukrainian people who are displaced by the violence that their country is suffering.”
“It’s great to have some good news today to focus on,” Pyatt said. “And I’m very, very optimistic that we’re going to see a record number of American tourists coming to enjoy everything that Greece has to offer over the next eight or nine months or so.”
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