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Travel from the UK
Direct Flights & Package Holidays
Mergers, bankruptcies, and the general economic situation
have brought a radical shake-up of the charter and package holiday market
in recent years.
Kosmar and its parent XL Airlines collapsed in September 2008,
while Sunvil withdrew from Lesvos in 2009 and shows no signs of returning.
2012
Thomson/First Choice will have no flights or holidays to Lesvos in 2012!
This means that unless another company steps in,
which in the present climate seems unlikely,
Thomas Cook, with first outbound flights on Saturday 21 April,
(from Gatwick only on 21 & 28 April, Gatwick and Manchester thereafter)
will be the only provider of direct flights,
using Monarch Airlines www.monarch.co.uk,
.
The Thomas Cook Group www.thomascook.com,
includes Manos www.manos.co.uk,
Direct Greece www.directgreece.co.uk,
and Neilson Active Holidays www.neilson.co.uk
These companies usually have flight-only bookings and one-way charters available.
Time for everyone to lobby easyJet, or your favourite budget airline,
for scheduled flights to Mitilene in 2012!
Independent Travel
There are frequent direct flights to Athens by
British Airways www.ba.com
Olympic www.olympicair.com
and Aegean Airways www.aegeanair.com
all from London Heathrow
easyJet www.easyjet.com from London Gatwick & Manchester
(easyJet no longer flies to Athens from Luton)
with up to 8 onward flights a day to Mitilene by
Aegean Airways and Olympic.
(Athens Airways, which operated a short-lived service to Mitilene,
has now ceased operations)
NB. when searching for flights,
note that the airline spelling is Mytilene (Aegean), or Mytilini (Olympic).
To avoid confusion, use the international codes, ATH (Athens) & MJT (Mitilene).
Through bookings from the UK and Netherlands are available with both airlines.
It is also possible to fly via Thessaloniki (SKG) at, usually, higher cost
and much lower frequency, though easyJet has four flights a week
between Gatwick and Thessaloniki.
Ferries
NEL Lines www.nel.gr
is the 'native' Lesvos ferry company, and until recent years had
a near monopoly of ferry services to the island.
It currently operates an overnight ferry six nights a week
from Piraeus to Mitilene via Chios,
normally leaving Piraeus at 19.00 or 19.30, Mitilene at 18.00 or 19.30,
and taking approximately 11-12 hours.
NEL has now updated its website with an English-language option
and on-line timetables & booking.
Hellenic Seaways www.hellenicseaways.gr
introduced a daily 8½ hour service in September 2005 with a brand-new ship,
'Nisos Mykonos' and claimed by that November
to have captured the major share of traffic.
The service has now been taken over by her even newer sister ship 'Nisos Chios',
and currently runs five days a week. Departure times vary.
The website offers online booking and eticketing.
For more on other routes to and from Lesvos see the 'Island Hopping' page.
A Crete-based booking agency at www.ferries.gr offers current timetables
for all major ferry lines serving Greek ports.
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