So far no Repatriation Flights from Greece to Finland

There are currently no plans for a direct repatriation flight from Greece to Finland organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Embassy made an enquiry and less than 20 people are interested in direct flights only. The number of passengers affects the possibility of carrying out the flight and the price of the ticket, as the flights are organized in cooperation with commercial airlines.

In a crisis situation, it is customary that as long as the commercial flights operate, no special repatriation flights are organised. There are no more direct flights from Greece to Helsinki, but there are several connections a week via Brussels, Paris and Zurich, on which we have reported in our social media. It is regrettable that at the beginning of the crisis, when airlines reduced flights, there were also several last-minute cancellations. But lately, we have heard that several Finns have made it to Finland on transit flights, and we have no longer heard of last-minute cancellations. Of course, we cannot guarantee the realization of flights; we can only pass on the information we have received.

From the Finnish media we can read that Finland has organized repatriation flights e.g. from Cyprus, Portugal, Cuba and India, where a much larger number of passengers have been stranded. The Embassy reports on the Greek situation on regular basis, but the prioritization is made and decisions taken by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Joint Nordic repatriations have been carried out from countries such as Peru and Egypt. EU citizens have been repatriated in cooperation from countries like China and Albania.

We have also studied the possibility of repatriation flights from Greece in cooperation with other countries, but so far, this has not been realized.  As far as we know, the other Nordic countries are not in the process of organizing repatriation flights from Greece either, but are advising their citizens to use commercial connections.

We understand that the pandemic situation and uncertainty can be a burden. However, travelling in a pandemic situation may be a risk in itself, and for risk groups, a transit flight is not necessarily realistic. Therefore, if you have an accommodation in Greece and there is no apparent emergency, one option in these circumstances is to remain calm and wait for the situation to become clearer. We wish everyone a good spring to follow, and above all, good health.

 

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