Emirates to launch new flight from Dubai to New York via Athens

According to the announcement, Athens is a market with important investment opportunities especially in today's highly competitive environment of the airline industry. According to surveys of the Athens International Airport, passenger traffic between Athens and the US with a stopover exceeds the 570,000 passengers annually, while only in summer 2016, the traffic in direct flights to New York increased by 52 percent, reaching 156,000 passengers.

"Therefore, the size of the New York market provides a unique opportunity for activities in the US. Emirates decided to take advantage of that opportunity and also play an important role in the Greek market," the announcement added.

Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura welcomed the decision and stressed the importance of supporting "the efforts of the Tourism ministry to further enhance the already increasing tourist flows from the USA and the United Arab Emirates to Greece, on an annual basis, traveling either for leisure or business purposes."