Many airlines in recent years have applied to fly to Greek airports, particularly Corfu, Rhodes and Heraklion. Permissions are given on the basis that the aircraft makes a stop at the new and very expensive Athens airport. Such a stop makes almost all these rotations uneconomic, hence are never taken up. The Charter and schedule airlines currently flying directly to these destinations have been doing so since before the new airport opened, a sort of Grandfather rights issue.
There are several appeals pending in the EU commission regarding this question, but, being Greece, this will take time.
A weekend flight from all RYR and EZY bases to these three destinations throughout the year would be real winners. There are literally thousands of expats with their associated families struggling over Athens to get there and back right through the winter.