Back to the future: we will go on vacation to Greece with the seaplane!
The evolution of tourism towards the future in Greece has begun. The use of new means of transportation is a step forward that could eventually change our habitual choices during a vacation.
In fact, a revolution is shaping in Greece this very moment that affects the transport to its islands and its coasts, not only to favour the residents or to facilitate handling an emergency, but foremost to offer travellers a bigger comfort, quality and flexibility.
The seaplane can be an alternative way to reach the islands and the coastline
Up until today the Greek islands can be reached by air (those big enough to have an airport) or by ship or by any other type of vessel.
Not always the ship is the most comfortable way to go since, it may require a long waiting time between your flights and the ship’s departure time which may not coincide with your timeframe and require moving from the airport to the port.
For this reason, Greece has approved a solution on a national level that will bring forward the frequent use of seaplanes in order to transport people fast between the airports, the islands and the coasts, since the whole process of transportation will become leaner.
The seaplane is an aircraft complete with wheels that allows it to do a typical ground take-off and landing from/to a regular airport, but at the same time it can take off or dock on the water at free standing docks or at special ports, called sea plane bases.
Approved pilot program for a luxurious resort in Halkidiki
The first “water airport” in Greece has been recently approved for one seaplane docking and it is situated at Kanistro, a small village of the Kassandra peninsula of Halkidiki region.
The company “Hellenic Seaplanes” has been selected as the contractor, while the “Med Sea Health SA” company has undertaken the construction of the water track in front of the Miraggio Thermal Spa Resort, a 5 star resort at Kanistro.
The Halkidiki project is a pilot one that will soon commence. It will represent a serious effort towards the future that will be promising to many professionals in the traveling sector. In fact, for the Miraggio Thermal Spa Resort it is a milestone in order to change the way people go on a vacation for many reasons, like these here below:
- Destinations like Halkidiki become even more accessible. This means that a group of travellers arrives at the airport of Thessaloniki and they can directly board a seaplane from the same airport. The small seaplane can dock in Kassandra peninsula in about 20 minutes, in front of the hotel. Up until today the same destination can be reached by car within 1 hour and a half or more if it is a weekend in the summer.
- The possibility to transfer to other islands in a short time, if you want to do island hopping, that includes the lesser-known islands, but most beautiful. If moving around from one point to another becomes faster, this can increase your desire to visit more places considering that nowadays people have less days to spend on vacation.
The objective is to create the biggest seaplane network in Europe
More than 100 water tracks. This is the ambitious objective set that is supposed to evolve within the next five years. The investors of this project aim to create the biggest network of seaplanes in Europe. This translates into buying seaplanes, training the pilots and into many other positions for the personnel that will be employed.
Thanks to this important number of water tracks, it will be possible to reach with the biggest flexibility many corners of Greece, from the Ionian islands to Crete, or many important resorts so as to accommodate their clients. Adding to this, Greece is an ideal country to make use of the seaplanes considering the numerous islands and its long coastlines.
A flexible aircraft for the travellers, but not only
The airlines that will be part of this mega project can train pilots for the seaplanes and sell packages of combined air and seaplane tickets for the final destinations.
With the beginning of these new flights, the seaplanes will create new tourist products that will be highly attractive and provide many growth opportunities to the islands and the remote areas they will connect.
I have talked about tourism, but the seaplane’s utility is not only for the travellers. The seaplanes can transport residents from one place to another, especially from the smaller islands, for many reasons and those could include also emergency transports to a hospital.
It is undoubtedly a return to the future. Not with flying cars, but with the seaplanes! It is the creation of a new tourist niche market of high quality, but also the solution to the longstanding transport problems between the islands.
Are you ready to land on crystal clear waters in the summer paradise of Greece for your next vacation?
