Aegean Airlines Introduce First-Ever Bristol Route to Athens

A new route between southern Europe and the Middle East has been praised by the director of Bristol Airport as “an extraordinarily significant milestone” for the West Country and south Wales.

The first-ever Bristol route to Athens was introduced by Aegean Airlines on Friday. From the Greek capital, Aegean has connections to Cairo, Tel Aviv, and Beirut.

Aegean, a member of Star Alliance, will fly the route twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. Flights leave Bristol at 1.45 pm and land in Athens at 7.30 pm, making for a three and a half hour flight.

“This is an incredibly exciting milestone for Bristol airport adding Aegean Airlines to the Bristol Airport airline family,” said Dave Lees, Bristol airport chief executive.

He continued: “Aegean Airlines is a major global airline and this decision shows confidence in the region. The regular scheduled service between Bristol and Athens opens up a wide range of European and worldwide connections to our customers.”

Lees also said the airport would try to cooperate with Aegean to explore “further exciting route opportunities for the future”.

Bristol highlights connections between the cities of Tel Aviv, Israel’s second largest city, and Beirut, Lebanon.