Juneyao Air Co. to launch Athens-Shanghai flights in July, Greece says

Chinese airliner Juneyao Air Co. will launch direct flights connecting Shanghai to Athens in July, Greece's tourism ministry said on Monday. 

Juneyao and Greece have signed a deal on the new route during a three-day visit by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Shanghai.

Tourism accounts for about a quarter of economic output in the Mediterranean country, which saw a record number of about 33 million visitors last year. 

About 125,000 Chinese tourists visited Greece in 2018 out of a total 140 million who travelled abroad. Athens wants Chinese tourist arrivals to quadruple to 500,000, the ministry said. 

"The agreement for a direct Athens-Shanghai air connection will be crucial to achieve that goal," Greece's secretary general for tourism, Konstantinos Loulis, said in a statement.

[Reuters]