Almost punctually at 16.45:42 p.m., the Sky Express ATR060, flight XNUMX, takes off from Karpathos Airport with its destination kasos away. The pure flight time is about 7 minutes. I'm the only passenger, and that happens quite often, says the flight attendant.[1]

At least she's kind enough to let the owner of my pension know my arrival details. You obviously know each other. Your offer came in very handy, because the man was actually waiting for me at the port and now he's driving to the airport, I only have to wait a few minutes. Since there are no taxis on Kasos, picking you up is very convenient, because walking a kilometer and a half in the sweltering heat with luggage is also not so pleasant.

Kasos (66km²) is a small limestone island in the southern Dodecanese, located between Crete and Karpathos. The transition from fishing and agriculture to tourism is very slow. Reasons are lack of water, the extremely barren landscape, hardly any beaches and the poor tourist infrastructure. The visitor does not understand how tourism is to be built up there. After all: The few taverns are excellent, the number of visitors is low, but the friendliness is extreme. 

In addition to the flight, ferries operate several times a week to Sitia (Crete), Karpathos and Athens. And then there is this strange flight, one of the shortest ever. This is a "community flight" in which commercial considerations play no role.

Structurally weak rooms

Especially since the end of the 20th century, the EU has seen the development of infrastructure as a public service task - this also includes air traffic and its promotion in structurally weak areas in which services are not offered privately for purely commercial reasons.

The structurally weak areas are defined by the states and assessed by the EU (cf. Official Journal of the EU, 2017/C 194/01) Since certain services are missing for market reasons, it is necessary to create an economic balance. This can be achieved in different ways, for example by granting monopolies, by compensatory payments or by contract services.

Public service tasks have long been fulfilled in rail transport by maintaining branch lines or setting tariffs in local transport. In aviation, Member States can impose public service obligations in peripheral or developing areas, subsidize them financially and receive compensation from the EU.

In air travel, these obligations relate both to the number of seats offered and to continuity (this explains the flight to Kasos with only one passenger). The pricing is not very variable (the flight cost a fixed price of €501, but there are seasonal differences and discount for locals).

After the public service routes have been advertised, a contract between the airline and the state is usually concluded for five years, in which the services, the connections and the number of seats offered are precisely defined and a monopoly position is granted. There is an obligation to operate, even if only one package has to be transported. Since usually only a small number of seats is required and thus promoted, airlines that have small devices naturally have an advantage in tenders.

When operating public service flights, slots are irrelevant at larger airports: the airline can organize the flight schedule of these flights at its own discretion and is given the corresponding slots. Of course, the slots are not a problem on small airports, but in Athens they are. (cf. C194/1/2017, point 34)

However, the question arises to what extent this duty cannot be achieved by other modes of transport. Information as to whether this extremely short flight to Kasos is really necessary for development reasons was not available in Greece and is apparently not being questioned by the EU - just as little as the question of whether rooms like this are suitable as a year-round living space at all.

According to EU Regulation 1008/2008, a criterion for a public service obligation would be a peripheral location of an area, "which is difficult to reach from the capital or other major cities of the Member State concerned.”  A connection from Kasos to Athens would be more appropriate than from Kasos to neighboring islands!

For the local population of Kasos (almost 1000 Ew.) The flight connection to Karpathos and Rhodes is irrelevant. The ferry is used for doctor visits, visits to authorities, school visits, the few tourists also prefer the cheaper ship connections.

Special case Kastellorizo

  The situation is different on the island in the very south-east of Greece Castellorizo (Greek too megisti) out. On this only 9 km² Today only 3 people live on the large island, which is almost 490 km away from the Turkish coast. In the past, the island gained a certain importance as a base for the Knights Hospitaller, and rulers changed frequently up to the 20th century. The archipelago has belonged to Greece since 1947 and forms the far easternmost point of the country.

A hundred years ago there were still 20.000 inhabitants, but wars, earthquakes, fire, lack of water and lack of prospects drove most people to emigrate, especially to Canada and Australia. Turkey also lays claim to the islands off its coast. An occupation of this tiny island would probably only cause moderate international protests, which is why Greece has a multiple presence on this island: on the one hand militarily (not quite in the spirit of the Treaty of Lausanne 1923, but somehow understandable), on the other hand, efforts have been made successfully through massive investments since 1990 and raising the standard of living by returning the emigrants or their children. English with an Australian accent is therefore widely spoken on the island, which has houses that have been superbly renovated thanks to generous government assistance.

Barbara, the daughter of islanders who emigrated to Australia but have now returned, runs a boating company with her husband and organizes trips to the 'Blue Grotto', a top island attraction, and to Turkey. With 66% government grants, they renovated a house and started the business. The children go to the local school, which offers classes from kindergarten to high school (often only 1-3 students per class).

"Allerdings' she says, 'there are often problems with the teachers, because some give up in winter despite the well-paying contract and flee back to the mainland because they can’t stand the constant wind and the extreme isolation.” The missing teaching material must then be made up later, if at all, in blocks. That would also be the reason why some parents prefer to send their (older) children to boarding school in Rhodes.

There are also public service flights to Rhodes several times a week from Kastellorizo ​​(served by Olympic with Dash8 – 100) with the original idea of ​​making it easier for islanders to visit the doctor or go to the authorities in the capital of the Dodecanese. Here, too, the flights (price around €50 for 45 minutes to Rhodes including luggage) are hardly accepted by the locals. A local ferry to Rhodes costs only €3, which is also subsidized. A necessary overnight stay in Rhodes is subsidized under certain circumstances[2]

Travel for medical reasons is also limited today: the Greek state opened a mini-hospital on the island with a few specialists. The specialists will probably travel to the island by plane for a few days. And in an emergency, the helicopter will come. Banks and post offices, which have long been closed in many small Greek towns like everywhere in Europe, are still available on the island.

This non-profit flight is mainly frequented by tourists who want to explore the strange island and get the thrill of the only 798m long runway. Due to the short runway, the Dash8 - 100 is only occupied by a maximum of 25 people on departure due to weight reasons. The small airport is fully equipped with check-in staff, fire brigade and ground service. But there isn't much to do. A regional structural promotion via tourism is clearly visible here.

Many other islands in Greece are also accessible by public service flights; the large islands such as Crete (exception: the city of Sitia), Rhodes or Corfu, on the other hand, are served from a commercial point of view and are not monopolized.

More than 170 routes are marked as public service in the member states of the EU, not all are served because no operator has been found. Above all, island routes are often operated on a non-profit basis, not only in Greece, but also in Italy and Spain, but also in Northern Europe. 12 member countries are currently making use of this funding strategy.

With some public service routes, the purpose is clearly recognizable, but with some other connections, as with Kasos, the question arises: Does it really make sense? Wouldn't the ferry be a better alternative? And is every island, no matter how small, really suitable as a permanent habitat?

[1] Information applies to June 23.6.2022, XNUMX
[2]  Numbers June 2022 

This post was written by: Mag.Wolfgang Ludwig (geographer and journalist).