Aegean Airlines expects 2025 to be a record year in terms of strengthening the network, with new destinations and increasing the number of flights to existing ones, as well as providing better service, always with an emphasis on people. On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, Aegean’s management carried out a press mission to the Emirate of Dubai, where the company’s CEO, Mr. Dimitris Gerogiannis, in the presence of senior executives of the company, unfolded the company’s strategy. Overall, all the evidence points to a positive year in 2024, in a difficult international environment and with significant infrastructure deficiency problems in Greece, at airports and beyond, which of course affect the entire aviation industry.
As Mr. Gerogiannis said “…The vision of Theodoros Vassilakis for Aegean was realized with effort, perseverance and patience. His clear and strategic mind combined with the shareholders who invested money in the company in the first 4 years were the first ingredients that helped in its success and development. The people of the company right from the beginning had ethics and empathy, which led to the growth of the company and its current “image”.
“We all put the “I” under the ” WE” and this is the recipe for success for the 3500 employees of the company”, the Aegean CEO emphatically noted.
It is recalled that Aegean was founded in 1999, with 2 aircraft to evolve into a company with 50 state-of-the-art aircraft, pending the arrival of 3 A321 LRs, which will fly longer distances, with a large technical base and with the Training Center with state-of-the-art simulators already in operation. These new aircraft will be able to fly for 7.5 hours, to destinations in the Persian Gulf, India and Central Africa with better facilities such as satellite Wi-Fi, improved provision in business and generally any facility that can “promise” quality travel.
According to Mr.Gerogiannis, “there were periods when we were considered losers, but in Athens we compete with 60 airlines and the people of Aegean are not only not afraid of competition but we are looking ahead for the next day of the company with excellent executives who are genuinely interested with values, as times change, but values do not”.
The Aegean CEO also stressed that the move of the company’s technical base to a new building in Spata, with upgraded infrastructure, is being completed and from 2025 1 of the 8 maintenance lines will be occupied by aircraft of foreign companies, generating revenue for both the company and the country.
Taking the floor, Yannis Rasoglou, Director of Network and Airline Partnerships, said that in the 2023-2024 season Aegean’s results and performance exceeded the 2019 figures, while this year the company’s network is expanding further with the addition of new flights to existing destinations such as London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Barcelona and Istanbul and new partnerships with companies such as Emirates, Saudia Airlines, etc. As he pointed out, the summer programme is enriched with 3.4 million seats, an increase of 6% compared to last year, April and May 2024 show a 12%-15% increase in capacity, with this upward trend expected to continue, while seasonality decreases and demand begins to consolidate throughout the year.
In addition to the routes launched in winter, such as Dubai and Kisinau, the airline has added three new destinations from Athens to abroad and is strengthening its investment in its Thessaloniki base, where the number of destinations has increased to 20 from 9 in 2019. The markets that Aegean will strengthen for 2024 are Cyprus, Turkey, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
Pepi Stamatis, deputy director of Aegean’s pricing policy, noted that from November to March there was a 6% increase in available seats and an occupancy rate of 80%, which is equivalent to that of 2023. On international routes, available seats increased by 10% and occupancy strengthened by 81%. The carrier operated routes to destinations such as Bilbao, Tallinn, Chisinau and Barcelona (from its base in Thessaloniki). It is indicative that Morocco was, during the 15 days of Easter, the most sought-after destination by Greeks.
