More than 3,500 flight seats will be offered on a weekly basis from China to Greece this season, following the addition of a new connection to Chengdu by Chinese carrier Sichuan Airlines
These seats concern the central hub of Athens, which remains connected to China through routes from Beijing by Air China, Shanghai by Juneyao Airlines, and, as a recent addition by Sichuan Airlines, Chengdu – via Istanbul.
For example, for the week from July 1 to July 7, the seats from Air China and Juneyao to Athens amounted to 2,801. At the same time, in the same week, via Sichuan, the seats for Athens and Istanbul combined amounted to 822.
The three Chinese carriers maintain 4 weekly flights on the respective routes they operate this year, i.e. they offer a total of 12 weekly frequencies.
Juneyao Airlines has the largest seat capacity for Athens as it uses 787-9 aircraft on the route from Shanghai.
In 2019, only one carrier connected Greece with China, with three weekly flights to a single destination, while in 2025 the destinations increased to three and the weekly connections to 12, while passenger traffic between China and Greece is showing an increase exceeding +100%, the Director of Communication and Marketing of Athens Airport, Ms. Ioanna Papadopoulou, recently stated.
In addition, Athens is now connected to 4 Asian destinations, as in addition to the Chinese carriers, Scoot maintains the connection with Singapore.
According to the flight seat planning provided by INSETE’s Airdata Tracker, the total number of seats from China for the 2025 summer season amounts to 88,195.
The new connection with Chengdu
The new connection of Sichuan Airlines with Chengdu started on June 30, 2025, and operates every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday with an A330-200 aircraft.
This is the extension of the Chengdu – Istanbul route, which began in June 2023.
Specifically, flight 3U3827 departs Chengdu at 1.35 local time, arrives in Istanbul at 6.30 local time, from where it departs at 8.30 to land in Athens at 10.00 local time.
The return flight, with the code 3U3828, departs Athens at 12.00, lands in Istanbul at 13.40, departs at 15.40, and returns to Chengdu.
Sichuan Airlines has 5th freedom rights on the route, which allow it to sell tickets between Istanbul and Athens, where it competes with Aegean and Turkish Airlines (each offering 28 weekly flights) as well as Sky Express (7 weekly flights).
