Summary
- Aegean Airlines expands its winter schedule with 18 recent routes, specializing in winter sun destinations and expanding operations within the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans.
- The airline introduces recent connections to Austria and Egypt, in addition to additional capital cities resembling Baku, Bratislava, and Chisinau.
- Aegean is working to cut back its dependence on seasonal destinations by extending the length of some summer services and carrying over certain seasonal services into year-round operations. Passenger numbers are up, with a big increase in international traffic.
The flag carrier of Greece has just released its schedule for the Winter season, and it contains a flurry of recent routes and extensions to existing seasonal services. Aegean Airlines will offer 18 recent routes to 14 countries, above what it offered for last yr’s winter schedule.
All aboard in Athens
The overwhelming majority of its recent routes depart from the carrier’s hub at Athens International Airport (ATH). There may be a big concentrate on winter sun destinations and expanding operations within the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans, and Western Europe. Following the successful introduction of Marrakech last yr, the airline is doubling down on sunshine and introducing two recent links to Egypt from the Greek capital, Luxor, on the Nile River and the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula.
At the opposite end of winter activities, there’s a brand new connection to the ski center of Innsbruck in Austria. Several more capital cities are also getting winter links to Athens. Azerbaijan will likely be linked with a brand new connection to Baku, alongside flights to Bratislava in Slovakia and Moldova’s Chisinau. Aegean’s Deputy Chief Business Officer of Network and Revenue, P. Stamatis, explained how the airline is seeking to keep busy throughout the quieter winter months:
“Constructing on the momentum of the successful growth of the last 18 months, we proceed to supply our passengers recent options and travel experiences, investing within the expansion of our network with recent destinations within the winter season. At the identical time, we proceed to take a position within the potential of Athens and Thessaloniki Airports, while we steadily develop special programmes and partnerships to mitigate seasonality within the region.
Photo: Dirk Daniel Mann / Shutterstock
Athens shouldn’t be the one airport getting recent connections. Passengers departing from the North of Greece may even have access to more winter sun with the launch of flights from Thessaloniki on to Cairo for the primary time.
Doubling up the connections
Aegean operates an all-Airbus fleet and doesn’t have a fleet of widebodies to support intercontinental operations. It relies heavily on partner carriers to facilitate travel and has added two recent flights to facilitate onward connections, Dubai, and a second day by day service to Frankfurt. The German city is, after all, a base for Star Alliance partner Lufthansa. Commenting on the launch, Mrs Stamatis noted just how essential these partnerships are:
“Furthermore, we announce the brand new direct flight to and from Athens-Dubai, in addition to the second day by day flight to Frankfurt Airport from Athens, in an effort to further strengthen the connectivity of our network with international aviation hubs, under the umbrella of our essential recent and established partnerships.”
Photo: Gestur Gislason / Shutterstock
The flight to Dubai within the United Arab Emirates is important for the airline as it’s the home of partner Emirates. The 2 airlines recently expanded their codeshare agreement, which incorporates connections from Athens across Aegens’s domestic network and a fifth-freedom Emirates flight from Athens to Newark.
The last seconds of summer
The airline can also be working to cut back its dependence on seasonal destinations by extending the length of a few of its summer services. Its flights to Rhodes, Heraklion in Crete, and Kalamata will now run until November and resume early in March 2024.
The airline also carries over a few of its seasonal services into year-round operations. These include this yr’s newly launched flight from Athens to Bristol along with Birmingham in the UK. From Athens, flights to Malaga, Bilbao, Tallinn, Riga, and Tunisia will all proceed over the winter.
Photo: EQRoy / Shutterstock
In Thessaloniki, a brand new link to Barcelona that commenced throughout the summer will proceed all year long.
Flying from strength to strength
The carrier has experienced a powerful yr already, with passenger numbers up across the board. Between January and September of this yr, Aegean carried over 11.9 million passengers. Of those, 7.1 million flew on the international network, a jump of 30% in comparison with the identical period last yr. From Athens “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport, international traffic has increased by 38%, while at Thessaloniki’s “Makedonia,” numbers exceeded 45% in comparison with the primary nine months of 2022.
The third quarter of this yr has been bustling, with over 5.3 million passengers flown across Aegean’s network. Traffic is up over 1 / 4, with a 17% increase in domestic passenger traffic and international passenger traffic up by 18%.