Athens welcomes first direct Juneyao Air flight from Shanghai

Juneyao Air’s inaugural flight from Shanghai to Athens arrived at the Greek city’s airport on Tuesday, marking the start of the first direct connection between the two cities. Operated on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the inaugural flight, HO1657, arrived at Athens International Airport (AIA) at 08:30 am local time after a 12-hour flight from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG). The flight was greeted with a “water salute”, the highest courtesy of aviation. “With the strong cooperation and support of all parties, the Shanghai-Athens route of Juneyao Air, which has taken four years to prepare, has been successfully launched,” Juneyao Air Chairman Wang Junjin said at the flight’s welcoming ceremony in Athens. The new Shanghai-Athens route of Juneyao Air will operate three times per week, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Flight HO1657 is scheduled to take off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 01:55 am and arrive at Athens International Airport at 08:55 am local time; the return flight HO1658 will take off at 13:45 pm local time and return to Shanghai Pudong at 05:05 am the next day. Welcoming Juneyao Air’s first flight to Athens, AIA Director of Communications & Marketing Ioanna Papadopoulou highlighted that in such a “strategically important market” as China, Shanghai has until now recorded the highest rates of indirect passenger traffic to Athens.<br/>