brotherleelove2004

Aegean Airlines just announced a 72-hour airfare sale for flights between 01/07/2022 – 30/10/2022. All flights are 30% off.

travelerjan

I may be wrong, but I think that Aegean sale applies only to International flights to/from Greece --- not to any Domestic flights within Greece. A lot of people would be pleased if the latter were the case!

crazyh

Yes, it does appear it's only for international flights.

Domestic flights appear to be very pricey for Aegean. While I've used them a number of times with excellent service their prices are more than some (me) want to pay. That's why I'm heading to the Peloponnese as it's far less expensive to take the bus from Athens to most destinations in the Peloponnese. I'll rent a car once I get to my first destination.

Sky Express while not as good as Aegean has lower prices and still gets good reviews.

Another bit of bad news if you want to get to an island. It appears ferry costs are rising due to the cost of oil.

Take the bus to the Peloponnese and save money for more important things . . . . Greek Food!

travelerjan

Crazy Horse, we appreciate your interest in helping people to save money -- but it doesn't always make sense in terms of their trip wishes. Sky Express, in my 2019, has left its start-up wobbles far behind, and now uses same equipiment as Aegean, and has developed a solid record for promptness etc... it is NOT a Ryan Air. It does sometimes have lower prices, but not to the non-jet islands -- so then it's irrelevant. And when one is trying to get somewhere at a certain time, the schedule you need is the deciding factor. And yes, Ferry prices are rising, like that of all transportation depending on gas/oil. But you don't decide on one destination over another because of ferry price vs bus. That's like saying, you'd like to visit New York, but it's cheaper in Milwaukee. Of course, the peloponnese is wonderful -- but come on, Crazyh, confess -- you've already had huge helpings of islands, year after year, you're ready for a Mainland binge -- but most newbies first wish-list includes islands.

balthy

travelerjan:
Skyexpress use ATR aircraft as well as Airbus. Aegean only use Airbus. Skyexpress do fly to smaller islands and do have fares that are inexpensive, depending on dates/routes. They were never a Ryanair copy, not sure why that was ever mentioned.
What do you classify as a non jet island?

Heimdall

Balthy, a non-jet island is one where the runway is too short for jet aircraft. Examples of popular islands served by turboprops include Naxos, with a 900 meter runway, and Milos with an 800 meter runway, but there are several more. These airports are served by Dash 8-100 and ATR 42 turboprops. Paros gets a few jets flying with minimum weight at its 1,400 meter runway, but most flights are with Dash 8-400 or ATR 72 turboprops. A full list of domestic airports with flights from Athens is shown in:
https://www.aia.gr/en/traveler/fligh...ights/domestic

You can look at departures and arrivals on the AIA website to see which aircraft are used at each island.

balthy

Precisely, been on lots of those flights with STOL aircraft, inc to Caribbean destinations inc Saba which I think is one of if not the worlds shortest commercial runway. ATR, Dash, Cessna, Grand Caravan, been on them all.

Travelerjan said: Sky Express, in my 2019, has left its start-up wobbles far behind, and now uses same equipiment as Aegean……It does sometimes have lower prices, but not to the non-jet islands -- so then it's irrelevant.

Skyexpress does have ATRs as well as the same equipment as Aegean and has lower prices or low prices depending on date & or route.

crazyh

When I decide on where I go in Greece one of the factors is how to get to that destination and what does it cost.

I was deciding on Crete or the mainland for 2022. The cost of the round trip flight to Crete is exceptionally high regardless of the airlines and even though I know Crete would be a wonderful island (I was there for 9 days and just got a sampling of it so wanted to return) I decided on the mainland mostly because it's so inexpensive to travel from Athens by bus to Nafplio. While I'm not cheap I am economical.

Since I don't use a Greek Airlines for International travel it's the cost of the domestic flight that is my concern.

Here's a great website which shows which Greek airlines (a few non-Greek airlines) travel to islands or parts of the mainland with airports. It can help decide which island to go to based on the cost of each airline to get you there.

https://www.aia.gr/traveler/flight-i...ghts/domestic/

If you hover your mouse over a destination it will show which airlines go there. Surprisingly Sky Express goes to most of the destinations Aegean does and even ones Aegean doesn't go to.

Fortunately there are a lot of options on where to go so one may make a decision based not just on the popularity of an island but also one's budget to get there.

Heimdall

That’s the same link I provided in reply #6.
​​​​

Heimdall

Many of the islands served by turboprops, eg Naxos and Milos, are classified as Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes that airlines can’t operate at a profit, so are subsidised by the government. The idea is to provide an essential service for island residents, not tourists, but of course tourists benefit too.

These flights are sold at the highest fare category, ComfortFlex in the case of Olympic Air. There is no incentive for the airlines to offer sales on these flights when they are already loss making.

I don’t expect anyone to wade through this lengthy document, because it shows all the PSO routes in the European Union (EU) by country. Scroll down a little bit to Greece if you are really interested. It’s a little out of date because I couldn’t find anything more current:
https://transport.ec.europa.eu/syste...tory_table.pdf

crazyh

Whoops!

On the other hand, great minds think alike!