ATHENS — United States Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt joined visiting American Airlines (AA) executives and Athens International Airport officials at an event to celebrate the launch of three daily direct flights from New York, Chicago and Philadelphia to Athens, held at the Sofitel Airport Hotel on Wednesday.

The ambassador said he remembered giving remarks at the airport two years ago, "when American Airlines launched its first non-stop flights between Chicago and Athens, connecting Greece to one of the world’s largest Greek diaspora communities." He said that US airlines had launched "a record nine daily direct flights" to Greece for the summer season.

In reopening the country to tourism, the Greek government "has prioritized the vaccination of citizens on its islands and tourism workers and has instituted effective health protocols to make visiting Greece as safe as possible." As a result, he added, "American travel demand for Greece has skyrocketed."

Pyatt also congratulated Fraport Greece on completing its four-year renovation program of Greece’s 14 regional airports, and applauded the efforts of US airline operators like AA to increase the daily direct flights between Greece, as it is "good for both of our economies and strengthens the people-to-people ties that are so important to this bilateral relationship."