How aviation tourism will spread its wings

The strengthening of aviation tourism, a special type of thematic tourism that is gaining more and more supporters, was the subject of a teleconference between the Deputy Ministers of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Giannis Kefalogiannis and Ms. Sofia Zacharaki, with the participation of the Manager of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Mr. Georgios Dritsakos.

During the teleconference, which followed technical contacts of the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, at the request of the Panhellenic Pilots Union and suggestions of the CAA, the challenges and obstacles to the development of air tourism were identified, such as additional customs restrictions, the specifics of form 731 and the operating hours of regional airports.

For the first time, an inter-ministerial working group is created through the initiative of the two deputy ministers, with the aim of launching relevant actions and promoting air tourism in Greece, which is a new special form of tourism.

In order to address these issues, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport will immediately propose a legislative initiative to lift the restriction on the mandatory landing of General Aviation aircraft at an airport that has customs.

In addition, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport will amend form 731 in order to drastically simplify the procedure for declaring passengers on General Aviation flights.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the CAA work closely with the Ministry of Tourism to highlight the landing areas of the CAA airports with competitive fees, with the aim of attracting General Aviation flights.

In the same context, the Ministry of Tourism will take care of the promotion of the new waterways and water fields for hydroplanes that were instituted by the Ministry of Transport in 2020 and started being established throughout Greece this year, thus stimulating the development of local tourism and of “island-hoping” in each region .

As they underlined regarding their joint statement, Mr. Kefalogiannis and Ms. Zacharaki: “Today we are taking the first step for the substantial strengthening of aviation tourism. The two Ministries, after consultation with the competent bodies, will take the necessary actions with a plan and giving political priority, so that we may dynamically place Greece on the map of aviation tourism destinations “.