Review: Aegean Airlines Domestic Flight Rhodes to Athens

January 2, 2023April 24, 2024 Koen 1 Comment

This Aegean Airlines review details a domestic flight in Greece from Rhodes (RHO) to Athens (ATH) in economy class on an Airbus A320.

Rhodes to Athens flight

Having spent a great day in Rhodes Town, my Greek holiday was nearing its end.

Although I considered taking an overnight ferry from Rhodes to Piraeus (the port city of Athens) I decided to fly this route in the end as it allowed me to enjoy one last evening with friends in the Greek capital.

I booked the domestic flight in combination with my onward flight out of Greece back to my home in Romania, paying 145 euro for a open-jaw economy class ticket Rhodes-Athens-Bucharest with Aegean Airlines.

As my onward flight to Bucharest was only the day after my arrival in Athens, it allowed me plenty of time to meet up with friends in the city.

virgin mary gate rhodes old town — *The Virgin Mary Gate in Rhodes Town. ©Paliparan*

sokratous street rhodes town mosque of suleiman — *Old town of Rhodes. ©Paliparan*

*Distant view over the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes. ©Paliparan*

akti miaouli beach rhodes town — *Akti Miaouli Beach at the western edge of Rhodes Town. ©Paliparan*

aegean sea sunset — *Rhodes Town sunset. ©Paliparan*

Rhodes airport bus

There are frequent buses linking the old town of Rhodes with the airport.

The airport bus departs from the west coast departures platform at the Central Bus Station, which is located just to the north of the walled old town of Rhodes.

It takes the bus about 30 to 40 minutes to cover the 16 kilometres between Rhodes Town and the airport.

As I arrived too early at the airport, I enjoyed a freddo espresso outside the terminal building to kill some time.

rhodes town bus stop — *Rhodes Town bus stop. ©Paliparan*

rhodes airport domestic flight aegean airlines — *Rhodes Diagoras Airport. ©Paliparan*

rhodes airport domestic flight greece aegean airlines — *The modern terminal building of Rhodes Airport. ©Paliparan*

freddo espresso airport — *Enjoying a freddo espresso outside the terminal. ©Paliparan*

Check-in

As I had bought some liquid souvenirs during some of my previous stops on the islands of Astypalea and Kastellorizo, I had to drop off my bag at the check-in desks.

To my surprise the airport was almost completely deserted and there were no queues at all.

Having checked in my bag and received my boarding pass, I headed up the escalator towards security control and the departure gates.

rhodes diagoras airport — *A completely empty Rhodes Airport. ©Paliparan*

aegean airlines check-in desks domestic flight greece — *Aegean Airlines check-in desks. ©Paliparan*

Departures terminal

As there were no queues at all at security control I was through in seconds.

Before you reach the departure gates, you are forced to walk through a large duty free store, a bit of smart airport designing which I’m not a fan of to put it mildly.

Rhodes Airport is an modern and clean airport with plenty of facilities.

There is a decent choice of cafés and fast food restaurants to keep you occupied while waiting for your flight.

duty free shop rhodes airport — *Duty free shop. ©Paliparan*

rhodes airport departure gates — *Rhodes Airport departure gates. ©Paliparan*

rhodes airport cafe — *Cafés at Rhodes Airport. ©Paliparan*

rhodes airport fast food — *Rhodes Airport cafés and fast food restaurants. ©Paliparan*

Boarding

Rhodes Airport has no jet bridges so you will always depart from a bus gate.

Indeed, even though the Aegean Airlines plane was just a stone throw away from the terminal building, we still had to be bussed to it.

Although priority boarding was enforced, it didn’t matter much as all passengers still end up in the same bus, which only drives to the plane when it’s full.

Today’s domestic flight from Rhodes to Athens would be operated by an Airbus A320-200, which forms the backbone of the Aegean Airlines fleet.

boarding gate rhodes airport domestic flight athens aegean airlines — *Boarding gate for my flight to Athens. ©Paliparan*

aegean airlines rhodes airport — *Aegean Airlines plane on the apron of Rhodes Airport. ©Paliparan*

bus gate rhodes — *Walking down the ramp towards a bus. ©Paliparan*

aegean airlines airbus a320-200 domestic flight greece — *Boarding the Aegean Airlines Airbus A320-200 which would fly us from Rhodes to Athens. ©Paliparan*

aegean airlines domestic flight greece rhodes athens — *The Aegean Airlines domestic flight from Rhodes to Athens would be operated by an Airbus A320 with tail number SX-DVJ. ©Paliparan*

boarding aegean airlines rhodes — *Boarding the plane. ©Paliparan*

aegaen airlines airbus a320-200 — *Aegan Airlines Airbus A320-200. ©Paliparan*

airbus a320 aegean airlines boarding — *Boarding the Aegean Airlines Airbus A320. ©Paliparan*

Rhodes (RHO) to Athens (ATH) on Aegean Airlines
Flight A3 7205 – Airbus A320-200 – Seat 9A
Plane registration number: SX-DVJ
Departure: 3pm – Arrival: 4pm
Flight time: 1h – Distance: 252 miles

domestic flight rhodes athens aegean airlines — *The domestic flight between Rhodes and Athens takes an hour. ©Great Circle Mapper*

Aegean Airlines Airbus A320 seat

The Aegean Airlines Airbus A320 has an all-economy class lay-out, although the front seats can be curtained off to make a business class cabin.

The Athens to Rhodes route is one of the few domestic flights in Greece where Aegean Airlines actually offers business class.

If you book business class, you’ll profit from an empty middle seat and higher quality food and beverage service.

I was however booked in economy class, being seated in seat 9A on the port side of the plane.

The seat itself was perfectly comfortable for the short hop to Athens, having a decent amount of seat pitch and legroom.

seat aegean airlines a320-200 economy class review — *Seats on the Aegean Airlines Airbus A320-200. ©Paliparan*

cabin aegean airlines a320-200 economy class review — *The cabin of the Aegean Airlines Airbus A320-200. ©Paliparan*

Departure

Although the boarding seemed to be rather leisurely, it still finished well in time before our scheduled departure.

Being the only departure scheduled from Rhodes around this mid-afternoon hour, the pilots could immediately taxi the plane towards the runway.

The views upon departure over Rhodes Airport and the west coast of the island were beautiful.

hand sanitizing tissues — *Hand sanitizing tissues being handed out before departure. ©Paliparan*

runway taxiing — *Taxiing towards the runway. ©Paliparan*

runway departure rhodes — *Lining up for departure on the runway. ©Paliparan*

rhodes diagoras airport departure aegean airlines domestic flight greece — *Departure from Rhodes Diagoras Airport. ©Paliparan*

rhodes airport take-off domestic flight greece aegean airlines — *Rhodes Airport take-off. ©Paliparan*

west coast rhodes plane — *The west coast of the island of Rhodes as seen from the plane. ©Paliparan*

rhodes view plane — *View over Rhodes. ©Paliparan*

In-flight service

On a domestic Aegean Airlines flight in Greece you can still expect some in-flight service no matter how short the travel distance is.

During my flight from Rhodes to Athens, each passenger received a small bag containing a bottle of water and a honey sesame bar, a traditional Greek delicacy.

The service by the all-female team of flight attendants was swift and with a smile.

Although the flight between Rhodes and Athens is blocked at an hour, the actual flying time spent in the air is less than this, so you really can’t expect or wish for anything more when it comes to Aegean Airlines’ service on this short domestic hop.

aegean airlines domestic flight greece snack — *On an Aegean Airlines domestic flight in Greece you can expect a small snack and bottle of water being served. ©Paliparan*

In-flight entertainment

There are no USB ports or power sockets on the Aegean Airlines Airbus A320, nor is there any WiFi internet or personal in-flight entertainment screen.

However, there are a couple of overhead screens in the cabin, which played the route map and some promotional videos of Greek holiday destinations.

Although there is the in-flight magazine as well, I preferred looking out of the window.

Catching a domestic flight in Greece to or from one of the islands means that you will be able to enjoy some beautiful views from the window over the Aegean Sea.

It was good fun trying to spot some of the islands we were flying over, which included Tilos, Nisyros, Astypalea, Amorgos, Naxos and Paros.

tilos view plane — *The island of Tilos as seen from the air. ©Paliparan*

nisyros island view plane aegean airlines — *Flying over the volcanic island of Nisyros. ©Paliparan*

astypalea fly-over — *Astypalea as seen from the air. ©Paliparan*

amorgos greece domestic flight — *The mountainous island of Amorgos as seen from the air. ©Paliparan*

paros island — *Overflying Paros. ©Paliparan*

Landing in Athens

The flight passed by rather quick and before I realised it, the fasten seatbelt signs went on and the flight attendants readied the cabin for landing.

We approach Athens International Airport from the south, and there were some lovely views on arrival over the Athens suburbs.

mainland greece flight — *Approaching the Greek mainland. ©Paliparan*

athens suburbs domestic flight greece — *The Athens suburbs and the old Ellinikon International Airport as seen from the air. ©Paliparan*

athens final approach — *Flying over the suburban town of Koropi on final approach to Athens International Airport. ©Paliparan*

athens airport final approach — *Final approach towards Athens Airport. ©Paliparan*

athens airport landing — *Landing at Athens Airport. ©Paliparan*

athens airport runway domestic flight greece aegean airlines — *Touchdown on the runway of Athens Airport. ©Paliparan*

Athens arrival

After an on-time landing, we taxied towards a remote stand, which meant another bus transfer to the terminal to look forward to.

Fortunately, my baggage arrived rather quickly on the luggage belt and some 30 minutes after landing I was already in a metro train heading towards downtown Athens.

athens airport arrivals — *Heading to the baggage reclaim area. ©Paliparan*

baggage reclaim area athens airport — *Waiting for my bag at the baggage reclaim area. ©Paliparan*

airport metro athens — *Taking the metro from the airport into the city centre of Athens. ©Paliparan*

Conclusion

Taking a domestic flight on airlines such as Aegean Airlines or its main competitor Sky Express can be a fast and convenient way to travel around Greece.

When you book in advance or travel in the shoulder or low season, flight prices are quite decent and sometimes even cheaper than a ferry.

Aegean Airlines runs a well-organised domestic operation and even serves snacks and drinks on these short flights in Greece.

However, I still prefer the overall experience of a ferry in Greece when travelling to and from the islands as no matter how convenient flights are, you see so much more of the country from the deck of a ship.

Trip report index

This article is part of the ‘A Dodecanese Dream: Summer Island Hopping in Greece‘ trip report, which consists of the following chapters:

1. Back in the Skies – My First International Flight in the Age of Corona
2. Review: Kimon Hotel, Athens, Greece
3. Exploring Plaka: Through the Winding Streets of the Old Town of Athens
4. Climbing up the Acropolis: Visiting Athens’ Most Famous Sight
5. Review: Skyserv Melina Merkouri Lounge Athens Airport
6. Review: Sky Express Athens to Naxos (ATR 42)
7. Review: Studios Zafiri, Naxos Town, Greece
8. Naxos Town: The Gorgeous Historic Heart of the Cyclades
9. Review: Blue Star Ferries Naxos to Astypalaia
10. Review: Belvedere Studios, Astypalaia Town, Greece
11. Astypalea Town: The Unknown Crown Jewel of the Aegean Sea
12. Astypalea Island Guide: Exploring the Butterfly of the Aegean
13. On a Night Boat in Greece – Astypalea to Kastellorizo With Blue Star Ferries
14. Review: Traditional Apartments Alexandra, Kastellorizo, Greece
15. Kastellorizo: A Look Around Greece’s Easternmost Island
16. Hiking on Kastellorizo: Two Sunset Hikes Detailed
17. Review: Olympic Air Kastellorizo to Rhodes (Dash 8-100)
18. Guide: How to Travel From Rhodes to Halki by Ferry
19. Review: Dorothea Apartments, Halki, Greece
20. Halki Town: Eating, Swimming & Relaxing in Beautiful Emborios
21. A Hike to Horio: Exploring Halki’s Old Abandoned Capital
22. Guide: The Best Beaches on the Island of Halki
23. Review: Hermes Hotel, Rhodes Town, Greece
24. A Visit to the Delightful Old Town of Rhodes
25. Review: Aegean Airlines Domestic Flight Rhodes to Athens (current chapter)
26. End of a Dream Holiday in Greece: One Last Day in Athens