Aegean Airlines has announced it will begin operating a direct service between Manchester and Athens on Saturdays and Mondays from May 25th 2013.

The bi-weekly service will provide passengers with flexible and affordable direct access to Athens, as well as making it easy for passengers to continue their journey from Athens to any of the Greek islands.

Ken O’Toole, chief commercial officer, Manchester Airports Group, said: “This route means that passengers visiting Athens on business or leisure can now fly direct from Manchester.

“It also provides an efficient connection for passengers continuing their journey to the Greek islands, enabling them to travel with the same airline for their entire journey.

“This service will also offer great opportunities for holiday makers as well as people travelling between Manchester and Greece on business.

“There is also a large community of Greek students in Manchester so this new route will provide a quicker and easier way of travelling home for them as they can now travel direct from their local airport.”

Aegean Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance network, is Greece’s largest full-service airline carrying 6.5 million passengers in 2011.

The route departs from Manchester on Mondays and Saturdays at 21:05, landing in Athens at 02:50.

The return flight departs Athens at 18:15, arriving into Manchester at 20:20.