The low-cost Norwegian airline Norse Atlantic is strengthening its presence at the “El. Venizelos” airport, inaugurating on June 3 the first-ever direct connection between Athens and Los Angeles, increasing flight frequencies to New York’s JFK airport, and offering a total increase in available capacity for Athens by 155% compared to 2024.
With these two connections, the airline will offer a total of 49,000 one-way seats while doubling weekly frequencies.
The new seasonal connection with Los Angeles, lasting 13.5 hours, will have a frequency of 4 times a week and is expected to benefit travel flows to our country more than the other way around, as Bj?rn Tore Larsen emphasized at a press conference held by the airline on Friday in Athens.
Besides, a success factor for the new connection with Los Angeles, as Mr. Larsen mentioned, is the fact that one of the largest Greek-American communities is located in California. The flights will take place, according to the current schedule and depending on demand, until the end of September.
At the same time, an additional weekly flight is being added to the seasonal connection with New York’s JFK Airport, which began in May and was completed in October 2024 (6 versus 5 weekly in 2024). It is estimated that from May 2024 to April 2025, Norse Atlantic carried over 59,000 passengers to and from Athens.
This connection also contributes to the extension of the season, as this year it began on April 15 and will end in November, while the seat capacity is increased by 82% compared to last year.
Plans for a presence in Athens throughout the year
In the transatlantic network of the airline from Los Angeles, Athens is the fourth city connected to the destination, after London, Paris, and Rome. Although there is a slight decline in demand for transatlantic travel, the CEO of Norse appeared optimistic that the reduction in prices as a result of the current situation may further fuel the interest of Americans in traveling to Europe.
“We are establishing a permanent presence in Athens, and that means we are in the process of hiring,” emphasized Mr. Larsen, while noting that the expansion of operations in Athens is being considered, in which, as he said, “we want to have a presence throughout the year.”
In this context, the airline is considering new routes that can “operate” in the winter, the conversion of the seasonal connection with JFK into a route throughout the year, and new routes in the US and to other destinations.
100 Greeks hired
“We believe that we will be here in the future, but for now we will have two aircraft as a base at Athens airport, and a total of 150-200 employees, depending on the structure of our base,” he said, while clarifying that 100 Greeks have already been hired who will be employed in cabin crews but also in administrative positions with plans to hire pilots in Athens.
The company’s philosophy is to maintain low costs “because we know it’s important to be competitive,” as the airline’s CEO said, but at the same time to offer a good experience.
In terms of fares, two main options are offered: either a complete package that includes luggage, meals, and amenities, or a flexible “? la carte” model, where the traveler pays only for specific services. Hand luggage, for example, is included in the basic price, while extra luggage and food cost extra.
Norse operates a variety of routes, such as in Antarctica, with charter flights that land on an airstrip made of… ice for scientists from the Norwegian Research Institute, long-haul connections to the USA, Bangkok, and South Africa. In addition, with six of its aircraft, it will operate flights on behalf of the Indian airline Indigo, from Europe to destinations in India for up to 18 months.
Double the passenger traffic from the US compared to 2019
Demand from the US for Athens reached record levels in 2024, and already in the first half of 2025, Athens Airport data shows further growth. In particular, in the first quarter of 2025 there was a 14% increase in direct passenger traffic to and from the US – and +10% in the number of seats – compared to the first quarter of 2024, following the record performance of the previous year, when passengers to and from the US exceeded, for the first time in history, 1 million (1.19 million) in return trips. In fact, the increase in passenger traffic in 2024 in the US-Athens connectivity, compared to 2019, is +105%.
This increase is attributed to the upward trend recorded since 2019, excluding the years of the pandemic, in the number of frequencies and destinations. Specifically, compared to 2019, in the summer of 2025, there are twice as many weekly flight frequencies from the USA (103 vs. 46), services (13 vs. 6), and destinations (9 vs. 4), with the number of airlines remaining at the same levels (5).
At the same time, there is significant room for growth in direct air connections with the USA, as they currently represent only 35% of passenger traffic, compared to 65% corresponding to the share of transit.
+13.3% international passenger traffic at “El. Venizelos” in the first 4 months of 2025
Overall, Athens Airport recorded a 10.6% increase in passenger traffic in the first 4 months of 2025, with the number of flights increasing by 8.5%, compared to the corresponding period of 2024.
A total of 818 thousand additional passengers were recorded, with the increase in international passenger traffic taking the lead (+13.3%) and domestic traffic following (+4.3%). At the same time, the number of flights concerning international connections increased by 13.2%, and the corresponding number of domestic flights +1.3%.
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