Four regional UK airports get new routes to Greece – with direct flights to Europe’s longest beach

TOUR operator Jet2 is set to launch six new routes to affordable destinations in Greece for summer 2026.

Four regional airports in the UK will get the new Greek routes, with more than 100,000 seats already on sale.

East Midlands Airport will see two new routes, one to Thessaloniki (Halkidiki) in northern Greece and another to Preveza in northwestern Greece.

Flights to Thessaloniki (Halkidiki) are set to operate from May 23, 2026, with one-way tickets to Greece starting from £95 per person.

The weekly service will depart from East Midlands Airport at 4.45pm before touching down in Greece at 10.15pm local time.

Services to Preveza will begin operating slightly earlier on May 6, 2026, with one-way fares again starting from £95 per person.

The weekly service will depart from East Midlands Airport at 3.30pm, landing in Greece at 9pm.

A new service will also operate from Newcastle Airport – dubbed the best airport in the UK – to Preveza on May 26, 2026.

One-way fares from Newcastle Airport to Preveza will also start from £95 per person, with fares shooting up in the school summer holidays.

Located south of Corfu, Preveza is home to Monolithi Beach, the longest beach in Europe.

Holidaymakers should expect a mix of both Italian and Greek culture, with many visiting for boat trips to explore the nearby coves.

Jet2 will also add a new route from Bournemouth Airport to Kos, with the route launching right on time for the school summer holidays on July 29, 2026.

The cheapest one-way fares start from £146 during the school summer holidays, with the best deals to be had in October on this route.

Tourism is the main industry for Kos, with the resort of Kardamena popular with British holidaymakers

Edinburgh Airport will also see two new routes in summer 2026, one to Kefalonia and another to Kalamata.

The Kefalonia service will start operating from May 3, 2024, with one-way fares starting from £137.

Flights will leave the Scottish airport at 3.50pm, arriving on the Greek island at 9.50pm local time.

Kefalonia is one of the six largest islands in Greece, along with Crete and Rhodes.

The island also has some of the best secret beaches where you won’t bump into many other tourists.

Meanwhile, flights to Kalamata in southern Greece are slated to start operating just three days later on May 6, 2024.

One-way fares from the UK start from £106, with flights departing Edinburgh at 2.15pm and landing in Greece at 8.30pm.

Following the announcement, Jet2 boss Steve Heapy said: “Customers are telling us they want to book ahead and secure that all-important holiday to Greece, so we have responded to that demand by putting our biggest ever Greek Summer programme on sale for 2026, earlier than anyone else and earlier than ever before.  

“This Summer 26 programme represents a huge expansion with more seats and routes on sale to Greece, including 110 routes and six new routes.”

In total, 22 brand-new summer routes are scattered throughout the summer 2026 schedule, with Newcastle Airport seeing five new flights.

Dubbed the “best airport” in the UK, Newcastle Airport will now serve 57 destinations thanks to the new Jet2 routes.

Travellers heading to Newcastle Airport will now be able to head off to Agadir and Marrakech in Morocco, Preveza in Greece and the twin Iberian hotspots of Barcelona and Porto.

In addition to those, passengers will be able to take advantage of new routes from Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London Stansted and the East Midlands.

Altogether, over 1,700 flights will depart weekly across the network during peak periods.