On January 23, after an eight-hour flight from Mumbai, an IndiGo aircraft made history, inaugurating Greece’s first direct air connection with the vast South Asian market.
The second flight of the new connection was scheduled for the next day, departing from New Delhi and heading to Athens. The launch of the new route has been expected for months, raising high hopes for boosting tourist traffic from South Asia to Greece. So far, that promise has been realized.
According to available data from Athens International Airport, from January to September, IndiGo carried more than 60,000 round trip passengers.
The traffic was divided almost equally between New Delhi and Mumbai, as 32,700 traveled from and to New Delhi, and 28,600 from and to Mumbai.
The flights to Athens ranged between 87% and 92% booked. This is a first indication of demand from the Indian market, at a time when the direct connection is facilitating Indian travelers’ access to Greece.
At the same time, the new direct connection does not appear to take a significant amount of traffic away from connecting flights. According to airport data, passenger flows of Indian travelers through intermediate hubs remained almost unchanged compared to 2025, while total passenger traffic between Athens and India reached 84,000, an increase of 25.9% in January-August compared to the same period in 2025.
That year, the number of round trip passengers reached 100,000, which is expected to be surpassed this year, according to indications.
The momentum, however, is not limited to travel between Greece and India. Through IndiGo’s network, Athens is also connected to other popular destinations in Asia, with Thailand and Vietnam gathering the most traffic among markets beyond India.
Passengers can continue their journey via New Delhi and Mumbai air hubs.
This is part of a wider effort by Athens to strengthen its position in long-distance air connections, which started with Scoot and Air China in 2017, followed by Juneyao Air in 2024.
