Aegean Airlines

Aegean Airlines began scheduled passenger operations in May 1999, following the liberalisation of the Greek domestic market. The strategy of the company at its inception and to date is to provide full service, premium quality short and medium haul services.

In December 1999, expanding rapidly, Aegean bought Air Greece while in 2001 the company merged with another Greek carrier Cronus Airlines, a move that also marked its entry in international routes. Following its increasing acceptance by its customers Aegean became by 2005 the leading carrier on domestic routes. In 2005 Aegean reached an agreement with Lufthansa to become its partner in Greece.

Another important agreement was also reached in the same year with Airbus to fully renew its fleet with 27 new A320 family aircraft, of which 22 have already being delivered. The fleet renewal and improvement process facilitated network expansion and also helps to further increase the airline’s customer appeal in terms of punctuality, service and comfort. After four years of profitable operation Aegean was listed on the Athens stock exchange in July 2007, raising additional funds to support for fleet and network development. In 2008 through its gradual expansion of its international network, and its consistent delivery of high quality services Aegean became the largest Greek airline by passenger numbers.

Throughout its scheduled services history AEGEAN has been awarded six times from the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) in recognition of its operating performance, commercial success and commitment to customer comfort and satisfaction. Additionally, AEGEAN has been repeatedly awarded by Athens International Airport as the single largest contributor to the airport’s passenger growth. AEGEAN has also received the Skytrax World Airline award as the best regional airline in Europe for 2009.

AEGEAN currently operates 50 domestic and international routes with more than 200 daily flights.  It bases aircraft in Athens and Thessaloniki for scheduled operations as well as in Heraklion to serve its non-scheduled “charter” operations in cooperation with major Tour Operators.
In 2009, Aegean carried 6.6m passengers, up 10% on 2008 (6m). In 2009 revenues reached €622.7m while net earnings after tax stood at €23m. The airline currently (May 2010) operates a fleet of twenty two (22) brand new  Airbus A320/A321 aircraft, six (6) BAE SYSTEMS Avro RJ100s and two (2) ATR-72.