AEGEAN: Improvement Initiatives Vital for Greek Airports

Photo source: Aegean Airlines

Greek carrier AEGEAN has called for urgent measures so the airline companies operating in Greece can continue to grow and support tourism and the country’s economy.

In an announcement on Wednesday, AEGEAN’s Vice-Chairman Eftichios Vassilakis said that after many delays and postponements, initiatives must be directly taken to improve the support infrastructures of air navigation in Greece, such as those of regional airports.

Mr. Vassilakis also called for the development of a seasonal charge reduction policy for winter and for the extension of the contract of the Athens International Airport to be completed as soon as possible so it could launch more competitive charges.

“Without these urgent measures, AEGEAN, Olympic Air and the more than 100 companies operating in the country, will not be able to continue to grow in order to support tourism and the economy”, he said.

AEGEAN’s Vice-Chairman added that despite the difficult conditions in Greece following the capital controls, AEGEAN and Olympic Air successfully responded to challenges and managed to significantly develop their main bases, opening up new markets for Greek tourism and new destinations in established markets.

“AEGEAN, operating from 100 international destinations and nine bases, contributes significantly to the resilience and the more comprehensive geographical penetration of our ‘heavy’ domestic industry”, Mr. Vassilakis said.

AEGEAN carried 3 million passengers during July – August

According to recent data, AEGEAN’s international passenger traffic in July-August 2015 marked a 30 percent increase over the corresponding period of 2014. Overall, in two months, the company carried three million passengers on its domestic and international flights.

Specifically, during the July-August period, the company carried 2,990,852 passengers, 515,000 more than in the corresponding period of 2014, recording a 21 percent increase in overall traffic.