Greece is shaping up as one of Europe’s headline destinations for 2026, with airlines quietly loading more seats and fresh routes to Athens and the islands ahead of another record-breaking summer. Travelers from Berlin, Rome and Stockholm in particular can expect more nonstop options to flagship Greek hotspots including Athens, Santorini, Mykonos and Crete, as carriers respond to sustained demand for culture-rich city breaks and high-season island escapes.
German Market Drives Capacity Growth to Athens and Crete
Germany is set to play a leading role in Greece’s tourism story in 2026, a trend that will be felt most clearly in the skies. Aviation data for peak summer 2026 show German airlines adding more than 22,000 extra seats to Greek destinations in July and August compared with 2025, with Athens and western Crete among the biggest winners. July alone will see a 2.7 percent year on year jump in capacity, signaling strong underlying demand for both city and island holidays.
Athens, in particular, is emerging as a year round favorite for German travelers. Capacity from Germany to the Greek capital in July 2026 is projected to rise by just over 8 percent, with a similar increase in August. That uptick aligns with a wider push by Greek tourism authorities to promote Athens beyond the classic summer season, emphasizing food, culture and nearby beaches within easy reach of the city center.
Western Crete is also benefiting from the German market’s appetite for sun and sea, with Chania registering double digit growth in available seats for both July and August 2026. The region’s mix of resort areas, traditional villages and hiking trails is proving attractive for travelers seeking more than a straightforward beach break, and airlines are responding by thickening schedules to the island’s main gateways.
While not every new seat from Germany is tied to a freshly announced route, the overall pattern points toward more convenient itineraries and, for many travelers, a greater likelihood of finding nonstop or one stop options from Berlin to Athens and the Cretan airports at peak times.
Berlin: Expanding Role as a Gateway to the Greek Islands
Berlin Brandenburg Airport is moving steadily into a more prominent role for leisure travel, and Greece stands out among the beneficiaries for 2026. Eurowings has confirmed an expanded operation from Berlin starting with the summer 2026 schedule, including additional aircraft based at the airport and a broader European network. As part of this build out, the carrier is introducing new Greek capacity, including a route to Kavala in northern Greece and higher frequencies to key leisure destinations.
For travelers targeting Athens and the islands, that expansion is likely to translate into more one stop options via other German hubs as well as additional seasonal nonstop services from Berlin to Greek coastal airports. Kavala, although not one of the headline islands, is an important doorway to the northern Aegean and underlines the way airlines are deepening their footprint in Greece beyond the classic Cycladic hotspots.
At the same time, Greek carriers are sharpening their focus on Germany. Sky Express has already launched an Athens Berlin service operated with Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft, underscoring the importance of the German capital as a strategic market. By late 2025 the airline was already serving multiple German destinations, joining Aegean Airlines in offering German travelers direct access to Greece and convenient onward connections to islands like Santorini, Mykonos and Crete.
For Berlin based passengers planning a 2026 trip, this combination of German and Greek carriers should mean more flexibility on travel dates, better timed departures and a greater choice of connecting itineraries from Athens to the islands, even where direct Berlin to island flights are still limited or seasonal.
Rome Strengthens Its Position as a Southern European Hub for Greece
Rome continues to serve as a natural springboard for travelers heading from Italy and southern Europe to Greece’s most popular destinations. Low cost and full service operators alike have been expanding their Greek networks from Italian airports, and Rome Fiumicino is central to that strategy. By summer 2025, additional routes from Rome to Greek destinations such as Thessaloniki and several islands were already on sale, setting the stage for heavier capacity in 2026.
Ryanair’s network adjustments illustrate the trend. While the carrier has cut back in some northern European markets because of higher aviation taxes and airport costs, it has retained and in some cases reinforced connections from Rome to Greek leisure destinations. Routes from Rome Fiumicino to Corfu and Rhodes, for example, returned to the airline’s schedules ahead of summer 2025, pointing to sustained demand on Italy Greece holiday corridors.
Alongside the low cost offering, legacy and hybrid carriers are using Rome as a key transfer point toward Athens and beyond. Italian travelers looking to reach Santorini, Mykonos or Crete in 2026 can expect a mix of direct seasonal flights and efficient one stop journeys routed through Athens, with Rome often functioning as the first leg of that itinerary. This has particular appeal for central and southern Italian cities that rely on Rome as their principal long haul and regional hub.
The effect for 2026 travelers is a dense mesh of options, from early season departures aimed at shoulder season visitors to peak summer flights for family holidays. Rome’s connectivity is also dovetailing with Greece’s efforts to extend the season into late spring and early autumn, making it easier to plan a Greek island escape outside the busiest weeks of July and August.
Stockholm and the Nordic Demand for Greek Sun
Nordic travelers have long treated the Greek islands as a summer staple, and Stockholm continues to be a crucial origin point for that traffic. Scandinavian carriers have been steadily rebuilding and then expanding their leisure networks, and although the latest announced summer 2026 schedule for SAS chiefly highlights new routes and added capacity from Copenhagen and Oslo, Stockholm is also seeing reinforced services to key European destinations.
For Greece, that Nordic appetite for sunshine typically shows up as a mix of direct charter style and scheduled flights from Stockholm to Athens and popular island gateways, supplemented by connections over hubs like Copenhagen and other European cities. Even as some low cost operators pare back growth in higher cost markets, demand indicators from the Nordic countries are pushing airlines to keep Greece firmly on the map.
Recent seasons have also seen point to point links between Stockholm and Greek islands such as Zakynthos and Rhodes operated by low cost carriers, part of a wider network of seasonal routes out of Scandinavian airports. Although not all of those services have yet been confirmed for 2026, the strong performance of Greek routes and the broader increase in capacity from northern Europe to the Mediterranean make it likely that Stockholm based travelers will retain multiple options to reach Athens and the islands.
For Swedish holidaymakers, that means planning for 2026 can reasonably assume a continuation of nonstop island services at least in high season, as well as a robust choice of one stop itineraries via other European hubs when aiming for more specific destinations like Mykonos or Chania in Crete.
Connecting Through Athens to Santorini, Mykonos and Crete
While some seasonal routes offer direct links from Berlin, Rome or Stockholm to specific islands, Athens is increasingly the backbone of Greece’s air connectivity. The capital’s role as both a city break destination and a hub is being enhanced as airlines schedule more flights into and out of Athens during 2026, creating smoother connections to the Aegean and Cretan islands.
Aegean Airlines and its regional partners are central to this pattern, having announced expanded domestic services from key island bases and regional airports. New and reinforced links between Heraklion and other Greek destinations, as well as fresh routes from Rhodes to islands including Santorini and Crete, are designed to give visitors more multi center options. This web of domestic flights, combined with rising international capacity into Athens, makes it easier to pair, for example, a few days in the capital with onward travel to Santorini or Mykonos.
For Crete, the combination of strong international demand and better domestic connectivity is particularly important. With both Heraklion and Chania acting as major gateways, airlines are using Athens as a feeder hub while also adding more nonstops from European origins where demand justifies it. Travelers arriving from Berlin or Stockholm can often connect in Athens and be on the beach in Crete within a few hours of landing in the country.
On the high profile islands of Santorini and Mykonos, capacity increases are generally being managed through summer seasonal flights, many of them tied to Athens as the primary connecting point. Passengers from Rome and other Italian cities are among those most likely to take advantage of such connections, but the structure of the schedules means that Berlin and Stockholm based travelers can also tap into the same network, creating a wide range of timing and price combinations.
How Travelers Can Benefit from the 2026 Flight Landscape
The evolving route map for 2026 brings several practical advantages for travelers planning a Greek holiday. First is greater choice on origin airports. With Berlin, Rome and Stockholm all seeing airlines reinforce their European leisure networks, passengers are less confined to a single carrier or hub and can compare schedules that balance convenience, price and timing. A trip to Athens from Berlin, for example, might be available on both a Greek and a German airline, each offering different connection opportunities onward to the islands.
Second, the rise in overall capacity into Greece, particularly from Germany, tends to encourage more competitive pricing, especially when tickets are purchased early. More seats on aircraft do not guarantee low fares, but they do give airlines scope to run promotions and early bird sales. Rome and Stockholm based travelers, accustomed to strong low cost competition, are likely to see this play out in a familiar pattern of spring fare campaigns targeting summer 2026 departures.
Third, the domestic network enhancements within Greece increase the feasibility of more complex itineraries. A traveler could fly from Berlin to Athens, connect to Heraklion, spend time in Crete and then return on a different island routing via Santorini or Rhodes, all using scheduled services. The presence of multiple operators on certain routes can also offer additional resilience in the event of schedule changes or disruptions.
Finally, improved connectivity makes it easier to consider shoulder season travel. As airlines move some capacity into late spring and early autumn, particularly on routes like those between Germany and Athens, visitors from Rome, Berlin and Stockholm may find attractive options outside the absolute peak of July and August, with milder temperatures and lower crowd levels on the islands.
Planning Ahead for a 2026 Greece Getaway
With airlines already loading and adjusting schedules for 2026, would be visitors to Greece from Berlin, Rome and Stockholm can start planning with a clearer view of the options taking shape. Monitoring announcements from both full service and low cost carriers over the coming months will help travelers identify new or expanded routes to Athens and the key island gateways of Santorini, Mykonos and Crete.
Booking early is likely to remain a sound strategy, particularly for travel in school holiday periods when demand spikes across Europe. As German, Italian and Scandinavian travelers all compete for seats into Greece during peak weeks, the combination of high demand and finite airport capacity at island destinations can drive prices up quickly, even in a year of overall capacity growth.
Travelers who combine flexible dates with a willingness to consider one stop options via Athens or other European hubs will be best placed to take full advantage of the 2026 flight landscape. With Germany leading capacity growth, Rome retaining its strength as a southern gateway, and Stockholm feeding continued Nordic demand, Greece appears set to remain one of the most accessible and attractive Mediterranean destinations for the coming year.