Aegean Sees Rebound in Second-quarter Earnings

Aegean Airlines, Greece’s largest carrier, on Tuesday said higher load factors and passenger traffic led to a significant rebound in its earnings for the second quarter of 2017.

During the second quarter of the year (April-June), Aegean’s revenue increased to 298.9 million euros, 17 percent up compared to the respective quarter in 2016, without any increase in overall flight activity.

According to Aegean’s first half 2017 financial results, the improvement in load factors by 9 percentage points to 81 percent from 72 percent, resulted to a rebound in earnings with pre-tax and after-tax earnings at 23.2 million euros and 15.8 million euros, respectively, compared to pre-tax and after-tax losses of 2.1 million euros and 2.2 million euros in the second quarter of 2016.

“We had a very strong start to the summer season. The maturing process of our international network, more effective capacity management and commercial policy as well a strong demand for Greece, have all contributed,” Dimitris Gerogiannis, Managing Director, said.

Total passengers carried for the second quarter increased by 7 percent with international network continuing to be the main driver with 12 percent growth, according to Aegean’s results. International traffic from Athens International Airport grew by 17 percent with Aegean being the largest contributor to market’s growth.

“Given the traffic performance of July and August, we are highly confident for the performance of the third quarter of the year which substantially determines our full year results,” Gerogiannis said.

In the first six months of the year, Aegean’s turnover rose by 12 percent to 450.7 million euros and its passenger traffic reached 5.6 million passengers, representing an increase of 6 percent, compared to the respective period in 2016