United Airlines will add nonstop flights between Chicago and Athens this summer, creating a nonstop link between the Windy City and the City of the Violet Crown.
Chicago – Athens Nonstop On United Airlines Launches May 23rd
United will offer nonstop Chicago (ORD) – Athens (ATH) service this year during the peak summer travel period, with daily flights running May 23, 2024 through August 12.
The flight will be operated by a 787-8, featuring:
- 28 Polaris Business class seats
- 21 Premium Plus premium economy seats
- 36 Economy Plus extra legroom economy seats
- 158 Economy seats
Flights will be bookable this evening (January 24th))
Athens Flights Up 25% Over 2023
It is shaping up to be another blockbuster summer for Europe and Athens in particular, with United increasing overall flying to the Greek capital by 25%.
That figure includes not only the new Chicago service, but the fact that the Newark service (March 30) and Washington Dulles service (April 14) will commence earlier than last year.
Love For Chicago
With the addition of Athens this summer United will offer nonstop service from Chicago to 15 European cities, including:
- Amsterdam (AMS)
- Athens (ATH)
- Barcelona (BCN)
- Brussels (BRU)
- Dublin (DUB)
- Edinburgh (EDI)
- Frankfurt (FRA)
- London (LHR)
- Paris (CDG)
- Munich (MUC)
- Milan (MXP)
- Reykjavik (KEF)
- Rome (FCO)
- Shannon (SNN)
- Zurich (ZRH)
The overall transatlantic schedule from Chicago will be 10% larger than last year.
Speaking of hte new route, Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, said:
“United continues to have the largest and most diverse network across the Atlantic and we’re thrilled to add another exciting destination for customers flying out of Chicago O’Hare to explore with our new summer service to Athens. With non-stop service to destinations no other U.S. carriers serve, earlier starts to our most popular seasonal routes and even more transatlantic flights for our customers across the country, United is the clear choice for customers looking to travel to Europe this summer.”
CONCLUSION
United Airlines will add daily service between Athens and Chicago during the peak summer travel period this year utilizing a 787-8 Dreamliner jet. This will augment nonstop service from Washington, DC and Newark.
On a personal note, I’ll still steer clear of Greece this summer…far too many people and I find Greece much more charming in the early spring or late autumn. But Greece is a beautiful country and Athens a magnificent city. I already expect I’ll have several Chicago-based clients who are currently flying to Athens this summer to be in touch for the nonstop flight…
Wife asked about going to Greece this summer. No thanks! We have been there several times and while I love Greece I will pass going there in the summer.
Greece can be lovely in the summer, too. You could e.g. jump on a turboprop to Ioannina (IOA) and explore some really good mountains and forests that barely attract any tourists, or you can do history and gastronomy around SKG which only gets a handful of people on day trips from nearby resorts. Basically just avoid the islands/beaches in July and August and you’ll be absolutely fine.
Hasn’t AA been flying it nonstop in the summer since like 2021?
American launched seasonal ORD-ATH in 2019.
Surprising that UA has waited this long to launch it.
Another surprise is Emirates has been flying year-round between Newark and Athens for many years (exclude 2021, of course), but UA does not.
All airlines, AA and UA included, have limited planes and pilots. They have to make business decision where to deploy the assets to earn most money.
I have always wondered when United was going to start this route!! I always thought it was strange they flew to Milan, and Shannon before Athens.
United’s hubs have been building up very nicely, and the capacity additions of the a321-neo running service to Phoneix, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, SFO (5X daily!), Las Vegas and Fort Meyers is sure to make sure all these European flights are a success.
Does anyone know where the a321-neo will be based out of next? I’m guessing Newark, it seems to be the “favorite child hub”
Later this summer: “American Airlines cancels Chicago-Athens”
They’ve been doing well with it ,.. won’t happen .. there’s enough of a market in Chicago for both
April/May and September/October are my favorite times to go to Greece. I go at other times too — like last month — but try not to go by there in summer.
And for those thinking of doing Schengen-ATH-US (or other non-Schengen destinations), I’ll toss in that I don’t find ATH to be a great transit experience in such cases.
Nice article, but in saying “creating a nonstop link” implies there hasn’t been a nonstop link between Chicago and Athens. While true on United, Chicago has had a nonstop link for several summers on American. And will this summer for a longer season. Also, in the sentence where you mention Patrick Quayle, you misspelled the word “the”.
I’d like to see United restart their service to Manchester (MAN), preferably from ORD. I can’t get to EWR non-stop from OKC anymore.