In May of 2013 a new bill passed for the “Creation of a Development Friendly Environment for Strategic and Private Investments” that removes bureaucratic obstacles and boosts private investments in Greece through a strategic investment procedure (known as ”Fast Track”). The new bill now includes a specific framework for the operation of seaplane terminals and water aerodromes in Greece, giving operators and investors alike the green light for setting up seaplane operations to serve Greece’s islands, coastal cities, resorts and lakes throughout Greece.

Greece is a country with the longest coastline in the whole of Europe, with over 3,000 islands, 300 of which are inhabited. Yet, existing travel methods in Greece are so time consuming that “same-day” business trips are uneconomical, weekend travel of any distance is not viable, and the transportation of certain goods and services is impractical. Greece is under immense pressure to improve the way people, goods and services move throughout the country.

Realizing an untapped market for seaplanes in Greece, Hellenic Seaplanes S.A. saw an opportunity to fill a niche by flying from port to port with seaplanes thus, cutting off travel time up to  up to 8 hours from existing modes of transport and with an  infinitely more convenient and safe way. To those for whom time is money, the economic advantages are significant, and to those for whom distance and access have been obstacles, the seaplane is a welcome solution.

“Seaplanes can help Greece connect all of its islands and turn the whole country to the Riviera of Europe. We say, it’s possible and we can have it in the next 5 years.We envisage therefore, that the country will once again comfortably be among the leading 15 tourism destinations of the world, as measured by the UN’s World Tourism Organization ”, states in GreekAmericanNewsAgency.com , Mr. Nicholas Charalambous, Chairman & CEO of Hellenic Seaplanes. He strongly believes that Seaplanes may help Greece emerge from its six-year recession by creating a new market for tourism, which is increasing anyway, the only heavy industry of the country thus, helping growth on islands, development at ports and the creation of new jobs. Moreover, accessibility to the islands may also boost the real estate markets thus, moving the economy even further.

In fact, Hellenic Seaplanes is the first seaplane operator in Greece that will be flying between the islands and mainland ports and lakes Connecting Greece in way unimaginable until today, a new alternative way of transport that will forever change the way of travel in Greece … from port to port. Its services include:

•        Scheduled Flights

•        Sightseeing Tours

•        Charter Flights

•        Resort Transfers

•        Cargo Flights

•        Medical Evacuation

 

The Greek business is now in the process of licensing water aerodromes around the country in order to prepare the infrastructure for successful seaplane operations. With a goal to develop more than 100 water aerodromes around the countrythe greek innovative business  tends to establish as many water aerodromes as it can before this year’s summer season.

As far as the different scenarios for Grexit, are concerned, Mr Charalambous  stresses that the future of Greece is within the Euro. “In fact we were never really worried because seaplanes are by default a tourist product and the outlook for Greek tourism in 2015 remains positive despite the air of uncertainty in the mind of the global public opinion regarding Greece created by much of the international media coverage of the elections results and the wining of SYRIZA”.

Reports already show increased flight capacity planned for 2015 compared to 2014 for most Greek destinations. It is indeed worth mentioning that Greece welcomed a record 21.5 million visitors in 2014 (up by 20 percent compared to 2013) – to which an additional 2.5 million cruise ship arrivals can be added. Besides the recent devaluation of the euro and falling oil prices, will even further improve the Greek Tourist Product Competitiveness resulting to even higher performance in 2015.

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