Athens & Thessaloniki airports are ready for more international flights

The Athens and Thessaloniki international airports will lift some restrictions for incoming international flights on Monday, with specific health safety protocols in place on the ground.

Specifically, as of Monday, Athens International Airport (which continued to receive international flights from specific countries during the last three months), will lift restrictions on arrivals from Italy, Spain and The Netherlands until June 30. Flights from Albania and North Macedonia, will be allowed only for essential travel of non-tourist nature, while the ban on flights from Great Britain and Turkey will be maintained, regardless of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency's (EASA) list.

After three months of restrictions, Thessaloniki International Airport as of Monday (and until June 30) will receive all international flights, except those from Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Turkey, Albania and North Macedonia.

All other airports across the country will open to international flights on July 1.

A 1.5 meters distance among everyone at airports and at all times must be observed as must the use of face masks.

Passengers arriving from June 15-30 from airports outside of the EASA list and from Italy, Spain and The Netherlands will be sampled and travellers will be subjected to one day of self-isolation at a hotel of their choice until the test result is available; if the test is positive, they will be quarantined for 14 days.

As of July 1, all travellers arriving in Greece will have to submit a Passenger Load Factor (PLF) form with their contact details in Greece.

Meanwhile, Civil Protection Deputy Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias expressed his personal conviction that "everything will turn out well, albeit gradually, and we shall regain the normality we have been deprived of for several months."

His comments were made during a visit to Thessaloniki International Airport on Sunday.

Thessaloniki's 'MAKEDONIA' Airport will receive the first flight after three months from Munich on Monday at 1pm.

Reopening tourism in northern Greece is a matter of priority for the government, he added, and underlined that passengers who will be arriving there will not be immediately quarantined, as "we will take their samples and they will proceed to their destinations."

After Thessaloniki, Hardalias went to Halkidiki, where he met with local authorities' officials about fire-proofing the region against potential summer wildfires.

Earlier in the day Hardalias visited the Prespes municipality in northern Greece where he inaugurated a fire brigade station, in view of better protecting the region's forestry and one of Europe's most diverse ecosystems of flora and fauna, home to several endangered species of birds and other animals.