Athens-New York year-long link returns after five years

After a five-year absence, the year-round daily air link between Athens and the New York area is scheduled to resume as Dubai-based airline Emirates on Monday announced it will be starting flights on the route from March 12.

Athens International Airport officials had been trying to get the airline to commit to the service since 2013. However, it wasn't until recently, when Emirates had had a chance to see that the route made good business sense, that the airline proceeded with the scheduling of this flight, making Athens the intermediary stop in the service linking Dubai with Newark Airport, just 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Midtown Manhattan.

An estimated 600,000-700,000 passengers travel from Athens to North America every year and traffic on direct flights offered on a seasonal basis (i.e. every summer or from spring to fall) grew 52 percent last year to reach some...