Helvetic Airways is to station two aircraft of its Embraer E-Jet fleet at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg from 10 July. The new operation from the world’s only binational airport, which serves a trinational catchment area, is a first for the Swiss regional carrier. The aircraft will be deployed on weekend services to the Greek island of Santorini, to the Spanish city of Jerez and to Larnaca on Cyprus.

The gradual easing of entry restrictions in various EU countries, the coming introduction of a COVID certificate and the progress being made on the vaccination front are all helping to prompt a tangible increase in demand for vacation travel. In view of these broad developments, Helvetic Airways is expanding its range of summer air services – including, for the first time, flights from EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg.

“The arrival of Helvetic Airways brings attractive new leisure destinations to the range of air services from our EuroAirport, which will all be served with quieter and fuel-efficient new-generation aircraft,” says EuroAirport Director Matthias Suhr.

Helvetic Airways CEO Tobias Pogorevc agrees. “With a catchment area that extends from the Swiss Mittelland to Alsace and Southern Germany, the EuroAirport offers a lot of potential,” he explains, “and the demand for vacation air travel is very high. With our new flights to Santorini, Jerez and Larnaca and our services to the Balkans, we are uniquely rounding off the airport’s range of travel options with particularly attractive weekend departure times.” The new operations are the first from EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in the Swiss regional carrier’s history.

The Med on Basel’s doorstep
Santorini is the southernmost of Greece’s Cyclades islands, and enjoys more hours of sunshine than anywhere else in the country. The island’s spectacular landscapes are the product of volcanic activity, and are famed above all for their magical craters. Santorini will receive weekly Saturday Helvetic Airways service.

Helvetic Airways’ second new destination is Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. The city, which is renowned for both its surrounding vineyards and its rich cultural heritage, stands on the plain at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in southern Andalusia, some 12 kilometres from the Atlantic coast. Jerez will also receive a weekly Saturday service.

Larnaca on Cyprus will welcome Sunday weekly Helvetic Airways flights. The island’s third-largest city is also a port with a thousand-year history and some 340 days of sunshine a year, all of which makes it a popular holiday destination.

Reservations
The new Helvetic Airways services are particularly intended to be bookable at short notice – like the “pop-up flights” the airline launched in July 2020.

Flights can be booked directly on helvetic.com or via the websites of partner tour operators DER Touristik Suisse (helvetictours.ch), Schauinsland (schauinsland-reisen.ch), FTI (fti.de), Hotelplan (hotelplan.ch), TUI (tui.ch) and ITS (itscoop.ch).

The flights to Greece and Spain will be operated with an Embraer E190-E1 (seating 112) and an Embraer E195-E2 (with 134 seats). With its particularly low-noise credentials and its consumption of up to 25% less fuel than comparable aircraft types, the new-generation E195-E2 is the flagship of the Helvetic Airways fleet.

COVID-19 and flexibility in the event of travel restrictions
As a Swiss-based airline, Helvetic Airways is totally committed to offering its customers an air travel experience that pays due and full regard to all hygiene rules and provisions. Helvetic Airways also guarantees its travellers extensive flexibility in the event of changed travel plans or cancellations wherever these are attributable to travel restrictions at the destination concerned.

Schedules (all times local)*

* may be subject to change