Saturday, 9 June 2018

GREECE: Aegean Airlines Now Flying To Porto And Turin

Aegean Airlines introduced two European airports to its Athens (ATH) network this week, namely Porto (OPO) and Turin (TRN).

The Star Alliance member will offer a seasonal service on both routes for S18.

The first destination added was the Portuguese city, with it being initiated on 6 June.

Flights on the 2,799-kilometre sector to Porto will be flown on the airline’s A320s twice-weekly on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Services on the 1,572-kilometre city pair with Turin, which launched two days later, will also see a twice-weekly rotation on Wednesdays and Fridays, with the route being operated on a mixture of Aegean’s Airbus short-haul family aircraft.

Neither service will face direct competition.

Last year the airline flew 13.2 million passengers, up 6.5% versus the 12.5 million that flew with the carrier in 2016.

Not only did passenger traffic grow, but the Aegean Airlines Group saw its passenger yield per kilometre increase from €0.081 in 2016 to €0.082 in 2017 according to its annual financial report.

Aegean Airlines S.A. Aeroporía Aigaíou Anónimi Etairía is the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carried, by number of destinations served and by fleet size.

A Star Alliance member since June 2010, it operates scheduled and charter services from Athens and Thessaloniki to other major Greek destinations as well as to a number of European and Middle Eastern destinations.

Its main hubs are Athens International Airport in Athens, Thessaloniki International Airport in Thessaloniki and Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus.

It also uses other Greek airports as bases, some of which are seasonal. It has its head office in Kifisia, a suburb of Athens.

Although the airline is the largest airline in Greece, it is not a flag carrier.

On 21 October 2012, Aegean Airlines announced that it had struck a deal to acquire Olympic Air, and the buyout was approved by the European Commission a year later, on 9 October 2013.

Both carriers continue to operate under separate brands. In addition, Aegean Airlines participated in the final stages of the tender for the privatization of Cyprus Airways, the national carrier of Cyprus.

Following the bankruptcy of Cyprus Airways, Aegean Airways established a hub at Larnaca Airport.

Thus initiating scheduled flights to and from the island to various destinations and filling the service gap created by the services termination of Cyprus Airways.

During summer season, Aegean Airlines operates a number of A320s, performing charter services in association with major tourist operators.

The charter flights connect popular holiday destinations in Greece to Italy, France, United Kingdom, Poland, Israel, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ukraine and other countries.

In recent years, they have also operated charter flights for football fixtures, for example, when the Greek national football team is playing abroad.

Aegean's first commercial flights were in May 1999 from Athens to Heraklion, Crete and Thessaloniki with 2 brand-new wholly owned British Aerospace Avro RJ100.

In December 1999 Aegean also acquired Air Greece. After an agreement in March 2001 to merge Aegean and Cronus Airlines, the company operated for a while as Aegean Cronus Airlines until full integration.

Since 2005, the airline has been in partnership with Lufthansa, offering participation in the Miles & More programme, and its flights, in addition to its A3 code also have the Lufthansa LH code.

In March 2006, Aegean Airlines also entered into a co-operation agreement with TAP Air Portugal.

In December 2008, Aegean Airlines announced its co-operation with Brussels Airlines.

Aegean Airlines codeshares with the following airlines:

- Air Canada

- Air Serbia

- airBaltic

- Brussels Airlines

- Bulgaria Air

- EgyptAir

- Ethiopian Airlines

- Etihad Airways

- Gulf Air

- Hainan Airlines

- LOT Polish Airlines

- Lufthansa

- Olympic Air

- S7 Airlines

- Scandinavian Airlines

- Singapore Airlines

- Swiss International Air Lines

- TAP Air Portugal

- TAROM

- Turkish Airlines

Additionally, Aegean Airlines has a commercial agreement with Trenitalia.


Tourism Observer

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