Aeroflot announced the launch of regular flights from Moscow to Thessaloniki.Starting from April, 26 the airline offers three weekly services (on Wednesdays,
Fridays and Sundays) from the Sheremetyevo
Airport; and from May, 31,
the flights become daily. As for now, tourists get to choose between VIM-avia, AegeanAir
and UTair flights. Plus the Astra Airlines are the second appointed carrier from
the Greek side. Therefore, a reasonable question arises: is the new carrier necessary?
The Director General of the Panteon Company, Mr. Anatoly Garkushin, soothes: "Every
year we see a growing shortage of plane seats to Thessaloniki and another carrier won't harm. Especially
given that the tour operators have got rather small blocks of seats as most of them
have been given to business travelers."
The Director General of the Mouzenidis Travel Company, Alexander Tsandekidi,
is sure that loading the Aeroflot's flights won't be a problem. "The destination
has been in need of a strong air carrier for quite a long time now. And for such
a popular destination as Moscow – Thessaloniki, Aeroflot has
set a rather reasonable price tag," he explained to RATA-news. According to
the expert, there will be no excess of air transportation. And even if there is,
it won't last long: only some certain flights might have vacant last-minute seats.
"While the peak season is not here yet, it's quite difficult to
tell if the amount of flights on the destination is adequate. But, in my opinion,
there is a certain excess of them," concluded the Deputy Director General of
Solvex-Travel, Ekaterina Ayzerman. But anyway, Aeroflot's coming to Thessaloniki with regular
flights means that it accepts all the risks. On the other hand, this problem can
always be solved by changing the flight schedule. Ms. Ayzerman recalled that Aeroflot
had already been operating the route before the service's termination in 2003.
Tour operators dealing with Greece are looking forward to summer
2013. According to Mr. Tsandekidi, the tourist flow increase on the destination
might be over 30-35%. The expert sees at least two reasons for this: the country's
loyal visa policy for Russians and attractive package prices that increased by no
more than 5% in 2013. Mr. Anatoly Garkushin agrees with his colleague. He judges
by Panteon Company's sales for the upcoming May holidays: some dates are in short
supply already.
It's interesting how the market players' opinion almost completely coincides
with predictions of the Greek side. For example, in his recent forecast based on
the early booking data, the General Secretary of the Greek Ministry of Tourism,
Mr. Anastasios Liaskos, voiced that 20% more Russians would visit the country this
year. Whereas the total number of tourist arrivals will slightly increase to 17
million people. In 2012, Greece
received the total of 16 million foreigners, of which 1 million were Russians.
