AEGEAN Sees Passenger Traffic Rise By 15% in First Half of 2015

Aegean Airlines on Friday announced total passenger growth of 15 percent for the first half of 2015. The airline carried 630.000 more passengers compared to the same period in 2014.

In an announcement, it was underlined that since the imposition of capital controls in Greece, AEGEAN responded immediately with fare offerings, a move which increased demand for travel and led to a 30 percent rise in its international traffic to Athens for the first half of July.

During the first six months of the year, international traffic to Greece rose by 20 percent to over 2.4 million passengers, with AEGEAN welcoming onboard 400,000 more passengers compared to last year.

“AEGEAN’s 20 percent international traffic growth outpaced the overall rate of tourism air arrivals to the country for the period of 6.7 percent, by a factor of 3. This performance gives further evidence to the company’s leading contribution to the development of the country’s tourism sector despite the unique conditions and challenges of the recent weeks and months”, the airline said.

Domestic traffic rose by 10 percent to 2.5 million passengers, compared to 2.3 million during the same period last year.

Passenger Traffic from/to Athens

AEGEAN also highlighted that its hub and main base Athens continued to grow faster with 26 percent more international passengers (1.7 million passengers, compared to 1.3 million in January-June 2014).

According to the airline, the rise is attributed to additional frequencies to traditional main source markets such as France, Italy, Switzerland as well as new routes launched, like Oslo, Helsinki, Dubrovnik, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Yerevan, Alexandria. During the following weeks, flights to Riyadh and Teheran will be launched to contribute to already increased traffic from the Middle East.

The total passenger traffic (domestic and international) from Athens Airport reached some 3.9 million passengers during the first half of the year, up 17 percent over last year.

“AEGEAN’s first half performance is the result of the company’s significant investment in fleet expansion with 7 additional aircraft, adding 16 new destinations to 9 countries as well as increasing frequencies to existing destinations. Increased capacity was invested mainly in Athens but also in the regional bases around the country, with AEGEAN flights reaching 134 destinations to 45 countries”, the airline said.

During the last days of June and early July and despite challenges posed by the capital controls imposed in Greece, AEGEAN took delivery of 3 brand new A320ceos. The new aircraft deliveries are part of a total 7 Airbus aircraft order valued at 300m USD, scheduled to be completed by March 2016.