Chicago vs. New York. We are NOT against having new air service out of the NYC airports.....and, encourage it. (And, for that matter, out of Washington DC and Boston, too). After all, in normal times, before the economic crisis, there would always be FIVE flights from the USA to Greece, during the peak summer season. Not including charter services, when there were any. So there’s room for more, especially after coming off a record crowd of Americans visting Greece in 2013. Still, the emphasis is on Chicago. It’s a whole different “product” than your East Coast to Greece flight…..and for a number of reasons. Regionally, Chicago---compared to most other US cities--- has a higher percentage of Greek people, whose roots are in the Peleponessos. Two provinces, in particular, Arkadia and Laconia. Yes, there are airports in the region---Patras and Kalamata—and they do have flights to some airports in Europe. Just that the flights, for the most part, are not really compatible with those coming overwater from the USA. Plus the fact that the airports are close---but not that close---to some of the places people need to get to. Kalamata to Sparta isn’t too bad….but Tripoli is “neither here nor there”. This is not to mention getting to the smaller towns, which means even more driving. For all practical purposes, most fly into ATH, and have someone drive them to the “horio”. Which, on the average, is about four hours from ATH airport. Quite a different deal than going to the islands, or going just to Athens. Eliminating one stop on the routing makes a world of difference for those in Chicago that go to Arkadia and Laconia(and there are many of them). The airlines have got to wise up and realize that Greece is not a one-dimensional market. There’s more to it than just Americans from the East Coast going to Santorini. More on CHI vs. NYC tomorrow.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 03:48:31 +0000
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