Astra Airlines was a Greek regional airline headquartered in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

and based at

Thessaloniki International Airport Thessaloniki Airport , officially Thessaloniki Airport "Makedonia" () and formerly Mikra Airport, is an international airport serving Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece. It is located southeast of the city, in Thermi. The airpo ...

History

The carrier was founded by Ioannis Zlatanis, founder of Interaviator Ltd, and Anastasios Zirinis, former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Olympic Aviation Olympic Aviation was a subsidiary of Olympic Airlines, Olympic Airways, the Greece, Greek national flag carrier. History Olympic Aviation was created on 2nd August 1971 to take over the operations of the light aircraft and helicopter division ...

. It launched operations on 5 July 2008, flying from Thessaloniki to Rhodes. On 9 November 2019, it was reported that Astra Airlines faced severe financial difficulties and was searching for an investor to maintain its current operations. The airline grounded all flights on the same day until further notice. On 14 November 2019,

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

announced that it had suspended the airline and warned Greek travel agents to stop selling tickets on the airline with immediate effect. On 18 November 2019, it was reported that the airline would not resume operations for good.

Destinations

As of May 2016, Astra Airlines served the following destinations: ;

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

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Athens International Airport Athens International Airport ''Eleftherios Venizelos'' , commonly initialised as AIA, is the largest international airport in Greece, serving the city of Athens and region of Attica. It began operation on 28 March 2001 (in time for the 2004 Su ...

- focus city *

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

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Chios Island National Airport Chios Island National Airport () is an airport on the island of Chios in Greece. It is also known as Chios National Airport, "Omiros" or Chios Airport located at the region of Kampos, south of the city of Chios. Aircraft up to the size of Airbus ...

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

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Corfu International Airport Corfu International Airport "Ioannis Kapodistrias" () or Ioannis Kapodistrias (Capodistrias) International Airport is a government-owned airport on the Greek island of Corfu at Kerkyra, serving both scheduled and charter flights from European c ...

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

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Heraklion International Airport Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a municipal population of 179 ...

Ikaria Ikaria, also spelled Icaria (; ), is a Greece, Greek island in the Aegean Sea, 10 nautical miles (19 km) southwest of Samos. Administratively, Ikaria forms a separate municipality within the Ikaria (regional unit), Ikaria regional unit, ...

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Ikaria Island National Airport Ikaria Island National Airport Ikaros is an airport on Ikaria Island, Greece. The airport was opened on 14 June 1995 with two weekly flights from Olympic Airlines, on the Dornier 228 aircraft. The buildings lie in an area of 1,000 Square Meters. ...

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

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Kalamata International Airport Kalamata International Airport () "Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos" is an airport in the city of Kalamata, Greece. It mainly receives flights during the summer. In March 2013, Aegean Airlines opened a base in the airport. Overview Civilia ...

Karpathos Karpathos (, ), also Carpathos, is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Together with the neighboring smaller Saria Island it forms the municipality of Karpathos, which is part of the regional unit ...

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Karpathos Island National Airport Karpathos Island National Airport is an airport on the island of Karpathos, Greece. The airport first operated in 1970, and it had very limited facilities (a small building of only 500 m2). As of 2023, its buildings cover an area of 12,500 m2. T ...

- seasonal *

Kastoria Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...

– Kastoria National Airport *

Kithira Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is dist ...

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Kithira Island National Airport Kithira Island National Airport "Alexandros Aristotelous Onassis" is an airport in Kithira, Greece . The airport was renovated in 1998 and the terminal and control tower were rebuilt. Olympic Air operates scheduled flights to Athens several times ...

- seasonal *

Kos Kos or Cos (; ) is a Greek island, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 37,089 (2021 census), making ...

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Kos Island International Airport Kos International Airport "Ippokratis" (; named for Hippocrates) is an international airport on the island of Kos in Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the ...

Kozani Kozani (, ) is a town in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas, Aliakmonas riv ...

– Kozani National Airport *

Lemnos Lemnos ( ) or Limnos ( ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos (regional unit), Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean modern regions of Greece ...

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Lemnos International Airport Lemnos International Airport "Hephaestus" is an airport on Lemnos Island, Greece. The airport is located 18 km away from the city of Myrina and began operation in 1959. This Airport, along with the whole island of Lemnos, was also featured ...

Milos Milos or Melos (; , ; ) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. It is the southwestern-most island of the Cyclades group. The ''Venus de Milo'' (now in the Louvre), the ''Poseidon of Melos'' (now in the ...

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Milos Island National Airport Milos Island National Airport is an airport in Milos, Greece . Milos is an island in the Cyclades. The airport is located 5 kilometers southeast of the harbour of the island. The airport was opened on January 17, 1973. In October 1995, a new term ...

- seasonal *

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. At the 2021 census, there were 10,704 inhabitants, most of ...

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Mykonos Island National Airport Mykonos-Manto Mavrogenous Airport is the international airport of the Greek island of Mykonos, located from the town of Mykonos. It serves flights to domestic and European metropolitan destinations due to the island being a popular leisure dest ...

- seasonal *

Mytilene Mytilene (; ) is the capital city, capital of the Greece, Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of the Aegean. It was fo ...

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Mytilene International Airport Mytilene International Airport "Odysseas Elytis" is the international airport of Mytilene, the capital of the Greek island Lesbos. History The airport began to operate in 1948 however it was 1980 before the first charter flight landed. In Dec ...

Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...

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Samos International Airport Samos International Airport "Aristarchos of Samos" is an airport on Samos Island Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of we ...

Santorini Santorini (, ), officially Thira (, ) or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southern ...

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Santorini (Thira) National Airport Santorini International Airport () is an airport in Santorini, Greece located north of the village of Kamari. The airport serves as both a military and a civil airport. With its redesigned apron, as of 2021 the airport is able to serve up to n ...

- seasonal *

Sitia Sitia (Latin language, Latin and Italian language, Italian) or Siteia (, ) is a port town and a municipality in Lasithi, Crete, Greece. The town has 11,166 inhabitants and the municipality has 20,438 (2021). It lies east of Agios Nikolaos, Cre ...

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Sitia Public Airport Sitia Airport is a small community airport in the region Mponta of Sitia Municipality, on the eastern part of Crete in Greece. The facility is serving the city of Sitia. The airport is located 1 km north/northwest of the city center. Histor ...

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- hub *

Zakynthos Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; ; ) or Zante (, , ; ; from the Venetian language, Venetian form, traditionally Latinized as Zacynthus) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, with an are ...

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Zakynthos International Airport Zakynthos International Airport "Dionysios Solomos" is an airport in Zakynthos, Greece. It is 4.3 km from Zakynthos town and close to other seaside tourist destinations such as Laganas, Tsilivi and Kalamaki, Zakynthos, Kalamaki. The main a ...

- seasonal ;

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

– Munich Airport - seasonal ;

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Ben Gurion Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , commonly known by the Hebrew language, Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on outskirts north of the city of Lod and directly south of the city of Or Yehuda, i ...

- seasonal charter

Fleet

As of August 2019, the Astra Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

References

External links

Official website
{{Airlines of Greece Defunct airlines of Greece Airlines established in 2008 Airlines disestablished in 2019 European Regions Airline Association Companies based in Thessaloniki 2020 disestablishments in Greece Greek brands Greek companies established in 2008