Olympic Air’s decision to stop the connection between three main airports of Greece in Thessaloniki, Iraklio on Crete, and to Rhodes beginning Oct. 13 has met with resistance from representatives of local administration, local chambers of commerce who say it will be a big economic blow and transportation hardship.
The Professional Chamber of Thessaloniki with its announcement denounced Olympic Air’s decision to stop the flights to the country’s second-largest city, complaining it degrades Thessaloniki even more, whose airport has seen the loss of other major carriers.
According to the Professional Chamber of Thessaloniki announcement, local tourism will also lose out, “since most people come to Thessaloniki by flight and every drop in the number of connections will have a negative effect on arrivals”.
The Mayor of Rhodes Stathis Kousournas expressed his disappointment for the Olympic Air’s cessation of air services between Athens and Rhodes starting from Sept. 30. “This decision harms crucially the most popular holiday destination in the country,” the mayor said.
Olympic Air attributed the interruption of flights to Rhodes and Thessaloniki to the difficult economic circumstances and that it doesn’t have the money to keep flying to those destinations with the government in the middle of a crushing fiscal crisis.
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