Gulf Air Adds Greece’s Santorini, Mykonos to Summer Schedule

Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, announced on Thursday the addition of two boutique summer destinations, Santorini and Mykonos in Greece, to its global network.

Both Santorini and Mykonos will be served by the airline’s new Airbus A320neo with two weekly flights each from June 2 until September 22 for Santorini and from June 3 until September 30 for Mykonos.

The seasonal summer routes to the Greek islands will boost the airline’s network with popular boutique seaside destinations that are favored by many tourists and families in Bahrain and the region, especially as demand for travel grows gradually towards the summer holidays with travel restrictions easing off in Europe.

“We’ve researched and studied various destinations to add to our seasonal summer network and we’re excited to reveal Santorini and Mykonos as the new boutique additions,” Gulf Air’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Captain Waleed AlAlawi said.

“Reviewing potentials and listening to our customers’ feedback, we are confident that both Greek islands will provide the perfect experience for honeymooners, friends and families to spend their holidays. We will be flying to both these destinations for the first time in the history of Gulf Air and we will be the only airline in the region flying to Santorini.”

Flights to Greece, in normal times well booked up by this time in May, are starting to be scheduled and all those involved in the tourist trade in Greece are praying that foreign tourists will be able to begin boarding them soon.

The British and Germans, the most stalwart of all international travelers to Greece, are chomping at the bit, waiting for Greece to open its doors to them on May 14, the official date for the reopening of the country after the long months of lockdown.

Gulf Air follows other airlines booking flights to Greece

International airlines are booking flights as fast as they can with the understanding that everything hinges on how the crisis plays out — whether or not the vaunted vaccination certificates will do their magic and open the floodgates to Greek beaches and other attractions all around the country.

Now that Greece has opened its doors to Americans once again after a year of banning them from its shores, Delta Air Lines has added two routes from the United States to Greece.

The Atlanta-based airline will now operate two seasonal routes to Greece, with one starting on May 28, departing New York for Athens. This represents the earliest start date for any airline operating between the US and Greece this Spring.

Beginning on July 2, Delta will operate a daily flight from Atlanta to Athens as well, which is the first time in a decade that this route will be flown.

United Airlines also recently announced more transatlantic flights to Croatia, Greece, and Iceland, all of which have flung open their doors to Americans.

American Airlines stands out amongst the “big three” US airlines (United, Delta and American), since it has not yet announced any additional transatlantic flights at this time.