ATHENS — Aegean Airlines will introduce direct flights between airports abroad to regional airports in Greece, it said on Thursday, and introduce flights from three new bases – Corfu, Santorini and Mykonos – in the 2021 tourist season.

Direct flights from its 7 regional bases in Greece to 65 originating airports abroad will be supported by 17-20 aircraft, it said, adding another 33 direct flights from the regional airports of Thessaloniki, Iraklio and Chania on Crete and Rhodes island, along with those of the three new island ones named above. Its Athens hub will maintain the fleet of 37-40 aircraft it has.

The new or more frequent schedules betwen Greece and abroad are scheduled to begin May and June 2021, with reservations already open and early booking deals.

The determining factors for the frequency and direct-flight changes include a joint European agreement on transfers between countries and progress in phase one of vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2, Aegean said. The new schedules are expected to be finalized by the end of February 2021.

"We are now at the toughest curve of the pandemic," Aegean Managing Director Dimitris Gerogiannis said, "but we are obliged to plan ahead, adapt to our passengers' new needs, and create the necessary prerequisites for economic recovery as soon as health developments allow."