The question usually comes up at a kitchen table, with a laptop open and a list of islands taped to the fridge: where do you actually land, and who flies there? Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos is the airport for the capital, and several American, Canadian and Gulf carriers connect it with the United States, many of them on seasonal nonstops.
Which airport serves Athens?
Athens is served by Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos, the official name of the airport that handles the Greek capital. It stands in Spata, in the region of Attica, and it began operating on 28 March 2001. If a booking site offers you an arrival in Athens, this is the airport it means.
The airport sits about 12 miles east of central Athens in a straight line, but the road is 19 miles because of the hills in between. That gap is worth keeping in mind when you picture the first leg of your trip, since you are not stepping out into the city itself.
Terminals and check-in
There are two terminals: the main terminal and the satellite terminal, which you reach through an underground link. All 153 check-in desks are in the main terminal, so every departure starts there, whichever gate you end up at later.
The satellite terminal is built for six million passengers a year. The airport as a whole handles 26 million passengers a year in its current phase, and the final expansion phase is planned for 50 million. Two parallel asphalt runways, one of 13,123 feet and one of 12,467 feet, carry the traffic.
The airlines based here
Athens is the main base of Aegean Airlines, the flag carrier of Greece, and a hub for Olympic Air, its subsidiary. Ryanair and Sky Express also operate bases here. That mix explains why the departures board is so full of Greek island names alongside the European capitals.
Aegean flies nonstop from Athens to Chania, Chios, Corfu, Heraklion, Kefalonia, Kos, Mykonos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini and Thessaloniki, among others. Olympic Air covers islands such as Naxos, Paros, Milos, Skiathos and Zakynthos, along with Ikaria, Karpathos, Kithira, Leros, Sitia and Skyros. Sky Express adds more, including Astypalaia, Kalymnos, Syros and Kastoria.
Flights onward to Europe
If your plans take in another country before or after Greece, Aegean flies nonstop from Athens to cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Lisbon, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, Vienna and Zurich. Many more cities appear on the same list, from Copenhagen and Stockholm-Arlanda to Edinburgh and Dublin.
One detail matters if Mykonos is on your list: Aegean serves no nonstop destinations in the U.S. or Canada from there. Travelers from North America reach the island through another airport, often Athens, and continue by a domestic flight.
Which airlines fly to Athens from the United States?
Three American-market carriers, one Gulf carrier and one low-cost Norwegian carrier fly nonstop between Athens and U.S. cities: American Airlines, United Airlines, Emirates and Norse Atlantic Airways. Most of these routes are seasonal, with one exception noted below.
| Airline | U.S. cities from Athens | Nature of service |
|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | Charlotte, Chicago-O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York-JFK, Philadelphia | Seasonal nonstop |
| United Airlines | Chicago-O’Hare, Newark, Washington-Dulles | Seasonal nonstop |
| Emirates | Newark | Nonstop |
| Norse Atlantic Airways | New York-JFK | Seasonal nonstop |
American Airlines and United
American Airlines has the longest list of U.S. cities on this route. Its seasonal nonstops connect Athens with Charlotte, Chicago-O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York-JFK and Philadelphia, which means travelers from the South, the Midwest and the Northeast can all find a way to Athens without changing planes.
United Airlines flies seasonal nonstops to Athens from Chicago-O’Hare, Newark and Washington-Dulles. Chicago appears on both airlines’ lists, so it is a city where you can compare two carriers on the same route. Because these services are seasonal, the months they operate shift from one schedule to the next, and your travel dates decide whether a nonstop exists.
Emirates and Norse Atlantic
Emirates operates nonstop flights between Athens and Newark. Unlike the others in the table, this route is not described as seasonal, which makes it the one to look at first when your dates fall outside the usual summer window.
Norse Atlantic Airways operates seasonal nonstops from Athens to New York-JFK. JFK is therefore served by two carriers on this route, Norse and American, giving travelers from the New York area a choice of airline.
Canada, and what Aegean adds
If you are flying from a city near the border, Air Canada and Air Transat both run seasonal nonstops between Athens and Montréal-Trudeau and Toronto-Pearson. Some travelers connect through those Canadian cities.
Aegean Airlines is a member of Star Alliance, as is United, and it keeps business lounges in Athens, Thessaloniki and Larnaca. Aegean was founded on 2 January 1995 and began operations in May 1999. Its website is aegeanair.com, where you can look at the Greek domestic routes that continue from Athens to the islands.
How do you get from the airport to the city?
The airport lies in Spata, about 12 miles east of central Athens as the crow flies and 19 miles by road, so the transfer into the city follows a road that winds around the hills rather than a straight line. Those are the two distances to hold in mind when you plan the first evening.
What the distance means on arrival
The gap between the straight-line figure and the road figure comes from the hills that lie between Spata and the center.
Inside the airport, you leave through the main terminal, where all check-in desks are. If your flight arrives at the satellite terminal, the underground link takes you back to the main terminal before you head out.
Continuing to the islands without entering Athens
Travelers fly straight on from the same airport, since Aegean, Olympic Air and Sky Express run nonstop flights from Athens to destinations such as Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Rhodes, Heraklion, Chania, Corfu and Kefalonia.
If your itinerary starts on an island, the international flight into Athens and the domestic flight out can be planned as two separate legs. Sky Express also reaches smaller places such as Astypalaia, Syros, Kalymnos and Kastoria, while Olympic Air serves Sitia, Skyros and Leros.
Heading back
Departures work the other way round. You return to Spata, go to the main terminal for check-in, and continue to the gate from there. If your flight leaves from the satellite terminal, the underground link carries you across.
Good to know before you go
The U.S. State Department rates Greece Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions.
Greece uses the euro, and the airport is one of the places where you will see it first, on the departures board’s shops and cafés. Athens is the main base of Aegean Airlines, so a flight booked with a Greek domestic carrier from here is a simple way to reach the islands. Many of the U.S. routes are seasonal, so the month you travel decides which airlines are flying nonstop from your city.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Aegean Airlines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegean_Airlines), checked October 12, 2026
- Wikipedia, Athens International Airport, airlines and destinations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/athens-destinations#Airlines_and_destinations), checked October 12, 2026
- U.S. Department of State, Greece travel advisory (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/greece-travel-advisory.html)
- Wikipedia, Mykonos Airport, airlines and destinations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mykonos-destinations#Airlines_and_destinations), checked October 12, 2026