29% increase in the total international traffic of AEGEAN from July to September 2015

Contribution to growth by 31% in the Heraklion base and 30% in the Rhodes base, despite stagnation in the overall local market

AEGEAN’s passenger traffic recorded a significant increase in the three first quarters of 2015, thanks to the network’s successful expansion. ΑEGEAN and Olympic Air flew 9.2 million passengers between January and September 2015, 17% more compared to 2014.

AEGEAN’s positive trend in passenger traffic witnessed early in the summer persisted throughout the July – September 2015 tourist period. Overall from July to September 2015, AEGEAN and Olympic Air flew 4,267,754 passengers, 696 thousand more than in the 2014 respective period, i.e. a 19% increase, contributing thus significantly to the tourist traffic of Greece, especially with regard to destinations in stagnation or in slight decline.

The company’s increase in terms of international passengers was once more higher than the market average, contributing thus actively to the country’s tourism and economy. In particular, from July to September 2015, AEGEAN transferred 2,358,122, passengers via its international network recording an increase of 29% comparing to the same period in 2014. The increase applied to other destinations apart from Athens, which has been on a positive course overall this year, with the main contribution being that of new destinations offered by AEGEAN. The positive trend continued into September resulting in a +28% increase in international traffic, i.e. in 709 thousand more passengers.

INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

The company also reported significant increase in regional bases such as Rhodes and Heraklion, which in relation to the overall market showed a slight decline due to the significant downturn of the Russian market. In particular, from July to September 2015, the company saw an increase of 31% in Heraklion and of 30% in Rhodes. AEGEAN invested consistently to additional direct connections and contributed through its quality and competitiveness to the increase in the regional tourist traffic. In 2015 the company through direct flights connected Heraklion to 45 international destinations in 21 countries, and Rhodes to 35 international destinations in 19 countries. Thanks to its new services AEGEAN contributed by more than 50% to the increase of the tourist traffic in Greece in 2015.
AEGEAN was also very active in the domestic network with continuous low fare offers, to address the crisis in demand witnessed in internal tourism, by supporting Greek consumers. This led to an icrease by 9% of the domestic traffic against the 2014 respective quarter. Increase in traffic to remote areas was even more impressive, since those areas have been supported this year with more flights and enhanced international connectivity, the result being that from July to September 2015 they achieved an increase of 22%, while certain remote destinations noted an even higher rate of increase. In particular, traffic to the following islands showed an impressive increase: Skiathos +60%, Zakynthos +51%, Naxos +43% and Milos +38%.

AEGEAN’s CEO, Mr. Dimitris Gerogiannis stated: “We are proud that AEGEAN was able to provide growth, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, through new connections and new aircraft both from the base in Athens, and in particular from Crete and Rhodes, which have suffered the effects of the crisis in Russia. We contributed almost 50% of the additional international traffic to Greece in 2015.
This also applies to remote areas, where through more flights, enhanced connectivity and low fare offers we provided effective support to these areas, which have been more severely affected by the drop in the purchasing power of Greek consumers. Nevertheless, it is necessary that the State intervene as soon as possible on issues relating to air navigation and the upgrade of infrastructures in small airports. The system is self-financed and the return on small investments that can be carried out in little time will bring about prompt multiplier effects.