Greece’s Aegean Airlines to open three new bases in 2Q21

Aegean Airlines (A3, Athens Int’l) will open bases in Mykonos, Kerkyra, and Santorini during the Summer 2021 season. In a statement summarizing its plans for next year’s high season, the Greek carrier said it would deploy one aircraft to each of the new bases but did not disclose the type to be used although the ch-aviation schedules module shows A320-200s are currently loaded in the system. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Aegean currently operates one A319-100, thirty-five A320-200s, five A320-200Ns, ten A321-200s, and two A321-200Ns while its Olympic Air (OA, Athens Int’l) subsidiary operates two ATR42-600s, two DHC-8-100s, and eight DHC-8-Q400s. Concerning its existing bases, Aegean will place four aircraft at Thessaloniki in Summer 2021, between seven and eight at Heraklion, between two and four at Rhodes, and one at Chania. Overall, the 17-20 aircraft in total will offer a total of 65 international scheduled routes out of the seven Greek cities. “We are now standing at the most difficult turning point of the pandemic,” Dimitris Gerogiannis, Aegean’s CEO said. “We do, however, need to plan, to adapt to the new needs of our passengers, and to create the necessary conditions for recovery as soon as health conditions allow it. To this end, we are announcing a major flight schedule for 2021 directly to the regions and the islands, starting next May and June. Our commitment to health-safe travel in 2021, as in 2020, as well as our commitment to supporting tourism remain stable.” On top of the 20 locally based jets, Aegean will also offer a further 50 additional routes, due to an increase in the number of aircraft dedicated to charter operations, bringing the total number of flights that directly connect Greek island destinations to more than 100. Aegean is in the process of putting together a EUR180 million euro (USD218 million) cash pile of which EUR120 million euros (USD145 million) is set to come from the Greek government while shareholders are due to provide a further EUR60 million (USD73 million).