Domestic flights in Greece provide an excellent alternative for reaching your destination if you’re on a tight schedule. Most international travelers will have to reach the Athens International Airport before heading to the Greek islands. However, the ferries might require 12 or even 15 hours to reach the final destination for the most remote islands in Greece. To some, this easily translates to a lost day of vacation.
Therefore, if you’re not a fan of slow journeys, taking a domestic flight from Athens to the Greek islands is definitely an option to consider. As a Greek, I have traveled extensively in the Greek islands and used every transportation option: airplanes, ferries, catamarans, and even fishing vessels. However, flying is the most time-efficient way of traveling to the Greek islands, especially the distant ones.
So, in this article, I will show you how you can book your flights within Greece. In addition, I’ll also share info about Greece’s airlines and offer some tips for finding the best flight deals. Last but not least, I’ll also share all the Greek islands with an airport to further help you with your Greek holiday planning.
Let’s start.
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Domestic flights in Greece: How to book your tickets
As you will see in the next section of the article, Greece is home to various airlines. That said, although you can’t visit every Greek island by plane, you can reach some of them at least. So, here you will see my workflow when I want to fly to a Greek island from Athens.
First option: Check Aegean Airlines
Aegean Airlines is Greece’s flag carrier. It is the biggest airline in the country and a Star Alliance Member operating several international itineraries. Moreover, Aegean Airlines serves many domestic destinations, most of which are toward the Greek islands. Additionally, Aegean Airlines acquired the fleet of Olympic Airways, consisting of smaller planes that can land safely on the short Greek islands’ runways.
Therefore, if you head over to the official Aegean Airlines website, you can choose from the dropdown menu the destination you’d like to fly to. After adding your dates, you will see the available flights. And it’s actually convenient that you can book both Aegean’s and Olympic Air’s flights. Last but not least, Aegean is a Star Alliance Member, so make sure to add your Star Alliance Card Number and earn miles.
You can also use the interactive widget below to check your desired itinerary.
Greek domestic flights tip: the Aegean Pass
During the last few years, Aegean Airlines introduced the so-called Aegean Pass. This is a pass that allows you to prepay a set number of flights (6 or 10) at a fixed price. Of course, it doesn’t make much sense if you only plan to visit one island. However, if you’d like to fly to more than one Greek island, the pass is a great option to reduce expenses.
You can learn more about the Aegean Pass on the company’s website.
I also reviewed the pass and offered some tips for a Greek island vacation in a separate article. You can read about the Aegean Pass and how to use it here.
Second option: Book via Kiwi
As I wrote earlier, various Greek and international airlines operate domestic flights from Athens to the islands. Although the majority of domestic destinations are served by the Aegean and Olympic, quite often, some islands are only reachable by other carriers. In addition, to bigger islands like Santorini or Crete, you can often find flights by two or three airlines. This means that the prices can be more competitive, and if budget matters, it’s always good to check the options.
To discover every airline flying to your destination, my recommended option is to visit the website of Kiwi. In my opinion, Kiwi is the best aggregator for flights, and I have discovered great deals via their search engine. Kiwi is always up-to-date and includes seasonal flights to the Greek islands in the search results. Companies like Volotea or Ryanair have scheduled flights all summer long, and you can find the best prices via Kiwi.
You can use Kiwi’s powerful search engine here.
Domestic direct flights in Greece: travel tips
In this section of the guide, I’ll share two of my favorite travel tips about internal flights in Greece. To make the most of your Greek vacation, it is important to pre-plan correctly. Greece is one of the most beloved destinations in the world, but there are also some things to keep in mind. Although this guide is dedicated to booking domestic direct flights in Greece, you can also find 10 things you need to know for your Greek vacation here.
Keep in mind the island clusters when booking Greek domestic flights
Greece has several island clusters, meaning you can fly to the biggest island and get to the smaller ones by ferry. For example, if you want to reach Symi in the Dodecanese, you’ll need almost 17 hours by ferry from Piraeus. However, a great alternative is to fly from Athens to Rhodes in one hour and take a ferry to Symi, which takes roughly another hour.
To get a better impression of the country, Greece has more than 6,000 islands. However, approximately only 230 of them are inhabited, and only 80 have more than 100 inhabitants. Therefore, flying to the biggest island(s) of an island cluster provides a great shortcut. And, if that’s not your final destination, you can reach every other island within a few hours.
So, to help you plan your domestic flights in Greece, I’ll share every Greek island with an airport categorized in clusters. Consider flying to one of the islands with an airport to reduce travel times and, of course, continue with a ferry to your final destination. Please remember that in most cases, direct flights between Greek islands are not possible.
Airports in the Cyclades
The raw landscape of the Cyclades attracts millions of visitors every year. Some of Greece’s most iconic islands are located in the Cyclades. For a cluster its size, the Cyclades are home to many airports. And here’s where you can fly to.
- Syros
- Mykonos
- Paros
- Naxos
- Milos
- Santorini
Aegean Airlines (and Olympic) fly to most of these destinations. While I always prefer the ferry to Syros and Mykonos, islands like Santorini and Naxos are much faster to reach by plane. For example, you’ll need about 40 minutes to Santorini by plane, but almost 6 hours by ferry.
Airports in the Dodecanese
Greece’s second most famous island cluster is located on the country’s eastern edge. Although its name stands for “Twelve Islands,” in reality, there are more in the cluster. Flying to the Dodecanese is a no-brainer because most journeys will last longer than 12-14 hours -and sometimes the journeys might even be close to 20 hours if there are delays.
Here are the islands you can fly to the Dodecanese from Athens.
- Rhodes
- Kalymnos
- Kos
- Leros
- Astypalaia
- Karpathos
- Kasos
As you can see, plenty of islands have an airport in this cluster. The biggest ones are Rhodes and Kos, and from there, you can visit every other island belonging to the Dodecanese.
Airports in the North Aegean islands
The North Aegean islands are yet to be discovered by international mass tourism. The landscape is sweeter than in the Cyclades, but they are great holiday destinations. There are, of course, some airports in the region. Specifically:
- Limnos
- Mitilini (Lesvos)
- Samos
- Ikaria
- Chios
Airports in the Ionian islands
The Ionian Islands -known as the “Seven Islands” in Greece- are famous for their turquoise waters and serene landscape. Almost every island in this cluster has an airport, and reaching them is very easy. So, here are the Ionian islands with an airport:
- Corfu (Kerkyra)
- Kefalonia
- Zakynthos
- Kythera
Apart from Kythera in the very south, it’s easy to travel between the rest of the seven islands by ferry.
Airports in Crete
Crete is Greece’s biggest island, and its cluster consists of several smaller islands. However, Crete is the only island on this side of Greece serving flights. In fact, there are three airports in Crete:
- Chania
- Heraklion
- Sitia National Airport
Exploring Crete is a great experience in itself. I wrote a separate article about traveling between Athens and Crete here. Check it out.
Airports in Sporades
Finally, there are also airports in the beautiful Sporades. This island cluster with the odd name is famous for its beautiful beaches. Sporades translates to something like “the scattered islands,” and here are the islands you can fly to:
- Skiathos
- Skiros
The flights from Athens to the Sporades are short, and it’s easy to travel between the islands.
Consider business class flights for miles
Domestic business class flights in Greece might be non-deserving to most travelers. And the truth is that apart from lounge access to the Athens International Airport, some extra space when flying (i.e., blocked middle seat), and proper in-flight lunch/dinner, there isn’t much more to expect.
However, flying domestic business class with Aegean Airlines translates to extra miles. In addition, the cost compared to the economy is usually not that significant. Therefore, if you’d like to earn some miles to maintain your Miles Status, you can consider it.
I have flown business class with Aegean several times, and I find their services excellent. You can read my Aegean Airlines business class review here.
Airlines operating domestic flights in Greece
In the last section of this article about internal flights in Greece, I will share a list of airlines in Greece operating flights within the country. I tried to include every carrier serving flights from Athens to the Greek islands. You can, of course, visit each airline’s website and see if they travel to your destination. However, as I already wrote, I find it better -and much easier- to do your research via Kiwi.
So, here are the Greek airlines operating domestic direct flights in Greece.
- Aegean Airlines
- Olympic Air
- Sky Express Airlines
- Ellinair
During the summertime, you can often find flights from Athens to the bigger Greek islands with airlines like Volotea, Ryanair, and Easyjet. In addition, there are also international charter flights to islands like Rhodes and Santorini.
Domestic flights Greece: conclusion
The expenses of every journey to Greece are split between your international flights and domestic traveling. Booking internal Greek flights will help you save hours compared to ferries; however, this comes quite often at a cost. On the other hand, the quality of the airlines in Greece guarantees a fast and hassle-free way of reaching your destination quickly.
Therefore, booking domestic flights in Greece is an excellent solution if time matters for you or if you simply want to reach a Greek island fast. So, make sure to check the biggest islands on the cluster and start planning your flights from Athens or Thessaloniki to Greece’s majestic islands.
More about Greece: The Ultimate Greek ferries guide, How to use Booking.com effectively
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Last Updated on February 25, 2025 by George Pavlopoulos