Greece extends 7-day quarantine, restrictions for international passengers

Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced on Friday the extension of the 7-day quarantine to all passengers on international flights as well as the travel restrictions to those arriving to the country form certain countries.

Both measures are extended until Thursday, 21. January 2021, at midnight.

According to a CAA press release issued on Jan 8, the new air directive (notam) aims to protect passengers and citizens from COVID-19, provides that

All passengers entering Greece until January 21, 2021 from any foreign country, including the member states of the European Union are subject to mandatory precautionary restriction at home or at the place of temporary residence declared on the PLF form, for seven (7) days, unless they remain in Greece for a shorter period; in which case the temporary restriction is valid for this period, ie until their departure.

In addition, foreign passengers will be subjected to a rapid test upon arrival based on the procedure provided by the Passenger Locator Form.

Especially for incoming passengers from the United Kingdom, a rapid test will be performed on arrival. At the same time, in order to get out of quarantine, passengers from the United Kingdom will have to undergo a new PCR test when the 7-day period is completed, which will be negative in order to lift the mandatory precautionary restriction. In case the tests find a positive passenger, the quarantine will be valid for 14 days.

Regarding the extensions of the existing air directives for international flights, the following are extended until 21/1/2021:

* International arrivals only with a negative test of 72 hours: All passengers of international flights will enter our country only with a negative test Covid-19 which will be performed up to 72 hours before their arrival. We also remind that the passengers will be sampled at the entrance based on PLF.

* Passenger Locator Form: Notam for the Passenger Locator Form (PLF), ie the mandatory completion of the form at the electronic address https://travel.gov.gr/ by all passengers of international flights to Greece. It is also mandatory to complete the PLF form for passengers of foreign flights who are permanent residents of Greece and depart from the airports of our country.

* Turkey / Catalonia: The air instructions concerning the suspension of flights between Greece and Turkey and between Greece and the region of Catalonia in Spain.
* Albania / North Macedonia: All flights to and from Greece from Albania and Northern Macedonia will be operated only at DAA “Eleftherios Venizelos”.
* Israel: The aviation directive for permanent residents of Israel with a maximum entry rate of 10,000 passengers per week at all airports in Greece.
* Russia: The notam for Russia (permanent residents), which provides arrivals only at the airports of Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion and a maximum entry of 500 passengers per week in Greece.
* Non EU Citizens: The aviation directive that prohibits entry to the country of Non-European Citizens (Non EU Citizens) is also extended.

Permanent residents of the following 9 countries are excluded from the notam: United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.

For all airline instructions that extend until January 21, 2021, the exceptions to the pre-existing notams apply.

CAA notam in Greek here.