On the quay at Piraeus in August, with ferries lined up and the loudspeakers calling out island names, plenty of travelers start wondering whether a flight from Athens would let them skip the scene altogether. Aegean Airlines, Olympic Air and Sky Express all fly from Athens to islands and mainland towns, and the choice between plane and boat depends on which island you want, which group it belongs to and which month you travel. The answers below sort out those cases and the airlines behind them.
When does it make sense to fly inside Greece?
The ferry system is a hub-and-spoke network, with the spokes radiating from Piraeus out to the various island groups. A flight from Athens skips that geometry altogether.
The airlines draw the same map from the air, with Athens as the starting point for nearly every route. From there, Aegean Airlines, Olympic Air and Sky Express reach islands from Corfu and Kefalonia in the Ionian to Rhodes and Kos in the southeast, and from Mykonos and Santorini to quieter names such as Astypalaia and Kithira.
Islands on different ferry spokes
The Cyclades show the issue best. The Western Cyclades and the Central Cyclades sit on different spokes, so in summer you can usually get from one island to another within the same group on any day. Boats between the groups, for example from Naxos to Sifnos, may be significantly less frequent.
| Cyclades group | Islands |
|---|---|
| Western Cyclades | Serifos, Sifnos, Milos |
| Central Cyclades | Naxos, Paros, Mykonos |
Milos, Naxos, Paros and Mykonos all have flights from Athens, which means a trip that mixes the two groups can be built around an air leg rather than a sea leg between them. Athens also has three ports, Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio, and for central Cyclades such as Tinos and Mykonos it is often better to leave from Rafina. Those details matter if you do take the boat for part of the trip.
Santorini, Corfu and the long way round
Santorini is an 8-hour slow boat from Athens, and the approach into the caldera from the water is spectacular. That is a fine way to arrive if the hours are part of the plan. Santorini is also on the Aegean Airlines and Sky Express lists from Athens, so the same island can be reached either way.
For Corfu and Kefalonia the picture is different again. KTEL, the national government-subsidized network of independent businesses, runs routes from major cities to islands near the mainland, and for Corfu and Kefalonia the price of the bus ticket includes the ferry crossing. Both islands also have nonstop flights from Athens with Aegean Airlines and Sky Express, so you pick between a bus that rolls onto a ferry and a plane.
The months when boats are unreliable or full
In the winter off-season, from January to March, weather on the Aegean can be extremely rough and boats are often kept in port for days at a time. A traveler with a fixed date for a flight home from Athens will notice that quickly. In August the pressure comes from the other side, since ferries fill up around the National Holiday on 15 August and travelers are advised to plan ahead.
Those two moments, the stormy weeks of deep winter and the holiday rush of mid-August, are when the airline timetables get a second look from people who would normally sail. Outside them, the choice is more a matter of taste, budget and how much of the trip you want to spend watching the sea go by.
Mainland towns and the train question
On the mainland, most rail traffic runs in the Athens to Thessaloniki corridor and the suburban railways of those two cities. Other lines, such as Thessaloniki to Florina, Lamia to Trikala and Thessaloniki to Serres, usually have only one or two trains per day. KTEL buses form a dense route system serving almost the entire country, which covers a great deal of ground.
Some mainland towns also have flights from Athens. Aegean Airlines flies to Alexandroupoli, Ioannina and Kavala, and Sky Express adds Kastoria and Kozani, so a trip to the far northeast or the northwest has an air option alongside the road.
Which airlines fly domestic routes?
Three airlines carry most domestic traffic from Athens: Aegean Airlines, its subsidiary Olympic Air, and Sky Express. Each one has its own list of nonstop destinations from Athens International Airport, and the lists overlap on the big islands and split on the smaller ones.
Aegean Airlines
Aegean Airlines is the flag carrier of Greece, founded on 2 January 1995 and flying since May 1999. It has hubs at Athens and Thessaloniki, with secondary hubs at Chania, Heraklion, Kalamata, Larnaca and Rhodes, and it belongs to Star Alliance. The hub list explains why Crete and Rhodes both feature so strongly in its network.
From Athens, Aegean flies nonstop to many Greek domestic destinations: Alexandroupoli, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Heraklion, Ioannina, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kos, Lemnos, Mykonos, Mytilene, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini and Thessaloniki. The same carrier also flies from Athens to major European cities including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Rome-Fiumicino, which suits a traveler who plans to continue to another country after the islands.
Olympic Air
Olympic Air is a regional airline and a subsidiary of Aegean Airlines. It began limited operations on 29 September 2009, and its main hubs are Thessaloniki International Airport and Athens International Airport, with Rhodes serving as a small secondary hub. Its headquarters are in Building 57 at Athens International Airport in Spata.
Its Athens list leans toward smaller islands: Ikaria, Karpathos, Kithira, Leros, Milos, Naxos, Paros, Sitia, Skiathos, Skyros and Zakynthos. Sitia, on Crete, and Skyros are names you rarely see on international schedules, and they are a reminder that a regional carrier fills in places the larger lines skip.
Sky Express
Sky Express is a Greek airline with the longest island list from Athens of the three. It flies nonstop to Alexandroupoli, Astypalaia, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Heraklion, Ikaria, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kastoria, Kefalonia, Kithira, Kos, Kozani, Lemnos, Milos, Mykonos, Mytilene, Naxos, Paros, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos, Syros, Thessaloniki and Zakynthos.
Several of those names belong to it alone on the Athens departure board, among them Astypalaia, Kalymnos and Syros. Others, such as Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes, are served by more than one carrier.
Who flies where from Athens
How do you book?
You book a domestic flight with the airline that flies your route, and the lists above tell you which one that is. Aegean Airlines sells through its own website, aegeanair.com. Because Olympic Air is a subsidiary of Aegean and an affiliate of Star Alliance through it, the two sit close together as a pair.
Connecting with an arrival from North America
Most visitors from the United States reach the islands through Athens, and several carriers fly there nonstop. American Airlines flies seasonally from Charlotte, Chicago-O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York-JFK and Philadelphia, while United flies seasonally from Chicago-O’Hare, Newark and Washington-Dulles. Emirates flies nonstop from Newark, and Norse Atlantic Airways flies seasonally from New York-JFK.
Canadian travelers have Air Canada and Air Transat, both flying seasonally from Montréal-Trudeau and Toronto-Pearson. Whichever way you arrive in Athens, the domestic leg then starts at the same airport, and the Aegean, Olympic Air and Sky Express routes above all leave from there.
Codeshares, miles and Star Alliance
Olympic Air’s frequent-flyer program is Miles+Bonus, and the airline has codeshare agreements with Aegean Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Scoot and Singapore Airlines. Together with Aegean’s membership in Star Alliance, that means a domestic leg can sit on the same itinerary as a long-haul one for travelers who collect miles in that network.
Aegean also keeps business lounges in Athens, Thessaloniki and Larnaca, which is worth knowing if your domestic flight is one stop in a longer journey.
Good to know before you go
The U.S. State Department rates Greece Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions.
Once you land on an island, the plane is only half of the logistics. About 90% of rental cars in Greece are manual, so anyone who wants an automatic is advised to reserve one in advance. Rental terms in Greece also often restrict taking the vehicle on ferries, which matters if you plan to hop between islands after flying in.
A phrase of caution helps with the sea as well. Ferry schedules in the deep winter and around 15 August are the ones that most often disrupt plans, so a flight booked for the last day of a trip keeps its own place in the calendar.
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
- Wikipedia, Olympic Air (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Air), checked October 12, 2026
- Wikipedia, Sky Express (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Express), checked October 12, 2026
- Wikivoyage, Greece, section Get around (https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Greece#Get_around), 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)