First tourists arriving at Corfu Airport on March 9

New destinations

The JET2 flight programme will start three and a half weeks earlier, beginning on March 29th and ending on October 28th. Dimitris Roussos, President of Corfu Civil Aviation Authority Employees Union, told Enimerosi that the initial flights will be from London and Manchester, while flights from other British locations will start from early May, including Liverpool, which has been added to this year's airline schedule.

British Airways flights will also start arriving at Corfu Airport from March 31st, initially with two flights per week from London, while from late May, flights will operate on a daily basis to and from the UK capital and Corfu. EasyJet flights commence on the last day of March, offering 17 destinations this year including London, Berlin, Liverpool, Belfast, Bristol, which start on March 31st, gradually adding others including two new ones, Birmingham and Nantes.

From April onwards, the Swiss holiday airline Edelweiss, based at Zurich airport, as well as the Spanish low-cost airline Volotea, will be arriving. TUI, the world's largest leisure, travel, and tourism company, starts its flight operations from May 10th until November 1st. Additionally, for the first time, the Italian airline Sky Alps based in Bolzano, will have flights coming to Corfu Airport, with one flight per week from June 7th to September 20th.

Reinstatement of Tel Aviv route

Ryanair is reintroducing the connection between Corfu and Tel Aviv in its programme for this year. It is also adding Liverpool (starting March 31st), but discontinuing the connection with Frankfurt. Additionally, the low-cost airline is scheduling direct flights from Corfu to Thessaloniki and Athens again this year. Flights to Thessaloniki start on June 3rd, twice a week until October 24th. The connection with Athens begins on June 2nd, with five flights per week until October 25th.

Dubai connection remains

For the second year in a row, Flydubai will continue its air connection between Corfu and Dubai, although last year's occupancy rates did not exceed 30%. The route will operate twice a week again, every Wednesday and Saturday, starting June 15th and ending September 7th. International flights at Corfu Airport will end on November 10th, with Easyjet's last flights to London and Birmingham.

Dimitris Roussos, President of Corfu Civil Aviation Authority Employees Union, told Enimerosi that it is estimated that international arrivals and passenger traffic for 2024 will be similar to last year's levels. There was an 8.4% increase in international arrivals in 2023 and 1.8 million passengers. However, last year there was a "congestion" of flights during specific time periods, which was particularly evident. "Our wish is not to have last year's programme, where there were too many flights concentrated simultaneously, but to have them better distributed throughout the day," said Mr. Roussos.

Non-Orthodox Easter

Regarding hotels, Babis Voulgaris, President of the Corfu Hoteliers Association, told Enimerosi that the opening of the first major hotels will be for the non-Orthodox Easter, at the end of March and the beginning of April. However, accommodation options exist either in hotels within the town that remain open all year round or in Airbnb-type accommodation, as the relevant platforms are already accepting bookings.

MARIA BAZDRIYIANNI

Archive photo