Fly In Greece was not built around investors or financial targets. It was built by aviators — people who love flight and love Greece — who happen to have spent fifteen years inside military aviation learning exactly how to make a flight go right.
My journey in aviation started back in 2005, as an avionics technician in the Hellenic Navy, working on fixed-wing aircraft. In 2009 I transitioned to helicopters — specifically the Sikorsky S-70B — where I served both as an aircrewman and as an officer in the helicopter operations department.
My role was mission planning, across the Aegean and Ionian seas — including search and rescue operations. If you have ever been in a meltemi on a summer afternoon, you know what it takes to put a helicopter safely over open water. If you haven't, take my word: it takes discipline, and it takes a respect for the conditions that does not negotiate.
That military background instilled in me a level of precision and operational discipline that I carry into everything I do today. Every weather briefing, every cross-check, every fuel calculation — these are not things I learned behind a sales desk. They were drilled into me over thousands of flight hours, over some of the most technically demanding airspace in Europe.
And there was a second, quieter gift from those years: I saw Greece from above. I saw hidden coves, untouched coastlines, mountains that looked different in evening light, villages most travellers will never even hear about. I always had this vision — one day, to share that perspective with the people who love Greece.
Every weather briefing, every cross-check, every fuel calculation — these are not things I learned behind a sales desk. They were drilled into me over thousands of flight hours.Yannis Apostolou · Founder
The idea started forming in 2015, when I visited the Grand Canyon and rented a helicopter. I remember the briefing, the take-off, the first time the canyon opened up below us. What struck me was not the view — it was how normal it felt. A family in front of me were comparing it to taking a taxi at home.
Coming back to Greece, I could not let the question go: why isn't this as accessible here? The market existed. We had the coastline, we had the islands, we had the weather. What we didn't have was the approach. It felt outdated. Quotes took days. Aircraft assignments were opaque. The whole thing behaved like a closed club.
For six years I carried that question around. I finished my navy service. I watched other operators come and go. I watched post-2019 demand for private travel climb, then climb again. And in 2021, I finally decided to act.
In 2021 I found the name — Fly In Greece. I registered it, I started building a website. I had a logo sketched on a napkin and a list of operators I knew personally from my military network.
What I didn't have yet was a company profile. A real one. The kind you send to a partner who has heard of you and wants to take a closer look.
Then one afternoon, I got a LinkedIn message. It was from Chef Maria Loi — Global Ambassador of Greek Gastronomy, author of Ancient Dining, a name known well beyond our industry. She had seen what we were doing and wanted the company profile. Could we send it over?
We had nothing ready. So that weekend, my team and I sat down and built it from scratch — the logo refined, the identity set, the profile written, the positioning clear. By Monday morning, it was in her inbox.
Sometimes the best push comes from exactly the place you least expect. Four years later, Maria is not just a friend — she is a core creative partner. The Loi Signature Series we are launching together is one of the most exciting programmes Fly In Greece has ever built.
Sometimes the best push comes from exactly the place you least expect. That weekend, we built the company profile from scratch.Yannis Apostolou · Founder
A lean team, a network of operators known personally, and a single promise: one flight manager for every client.
Mykonos demand exploded. We scaled — carefully — without adding a single layer between client and flight manager.
Opened Australia-facing representation; joined the European Business Aviation Association.
Across Europe. Riviera, Alps, Switzerland, Spain — same team, wider map.
Your client has just flown 24 hours from Sydney or 14 from New York. They have invested enormously in this trip — in time, in money, in anticipation. The last thing they want is to spend another half-day on a ferry or wait for a connecting flight.
That is the thing people miss about the helicopter: it is not about glamour. It is about the hours you give back. Athens to Ithaca is 70 minutes with us. By car and ferry? Six to seven hours, if the ferry even runs. We've done this transfer many times — and we move the luggage separately, by our partner network, at a fraction of the helicopter cost.
Folegandros is 15 minutes from Santorini. Milos is 40 minutes from Athens. Three islands in one trip stops being a logistical nightmare and becomes a Tuesday.
We see three ways our clients use us, and they are genuinely different products:
Long-haul arrival into Athens. Our handler meets you airside. VIP meet-and-assist. You are at the helipad within 15 minutes of touchdown, and at your villa 60 minutes later.
Forget ferry schedules. Sifnos to Milos to Mykonos in a single elegant loop — minutes between islands, not half-days. Ground staff at every helipad.
Fly commercially into Santorini or Mykonos, then helicopter onwards to smaller islands — Folegandros, Koufonisia, Patmos, Syros. The luggage moves with our network.
We have spent five years building direct landing arrangements with some of the most prestigious properties in Europe — not through booking platforms, not through middlemen, but directly with the hoteliers themselves. This matters, because it means your clients arrive door-to-door.
On the gastronomy side, our collaboration with Chef Maria Loi — Global Ambassador of Greek Gastronomy — and Erra Travel has produced the Loi Signature Series: immersive journeys that combine helicopter transfers to hidden gems with Maria's philosophy of Lived-In Longevity. Guests cook with Maria on volcanic rock, forage in ancient olive groves, arrive by helicopter to places most people never knew existed. Travel advisors can reach the Erra team directly at partners@erratravel.com.
People who love flight. People who love Greece. Our real goal has always been to make people fall in love with this country — not to push them through a flight funnel.
That is why you speak to one flight manager from first enquiry through final touchdown. If you have a question at 2am in Sydney or Sao Paulo, you have my personal WhatsApp.
We work directly with travel advisors because your reputation is on the line with every booking you make — and we take that seriously. Last-minute charters, complex multi-island itineraries, a bespoke experience with a VIP client: solutions with speed and precision.
Greece is one of the most extraordinary destinations in the world. Europe — France, Switzerland and Spain — is an extension of the same philosophy. We fly people to places that change how they think about this part of the world.
Help your clients see it the way it was meant to be seen — from above.
Whether you are a travel advisor building a multi-island itinerary for a VIP couple, or a private client on your way to a villa in the Peloponnese — one flight manager, from first enquiry to final touchdown.