Why aren’t seaplanes flying?

How many years will it be before seaplanes start flying in Greece? The answer is difficult. Since 2009 for all governments the return of amphibious aircraft, which can shrink the time needed to travel from Patra to Ioannina to about half an hour, has been a priority.

In 2009, Greek-Canadian Michael Patellis' AirSea Lines was forced to stop flights after four years of activity, which caused financial losses. Since then, seaplanes have flown only once again, in the summer of 2013, from Brindisi to Corfu. After this pilot flight in the context of a European co-financed project, it seemed certain that seaplanes - at least in the Ionian Sea - would return in 2014. Those expectations are constantly shifting, with the new time line now set, possibly for this year's summer season, if not for the summer of 2024. So what has been keeping water aircraft out of the air?

"When we...