In a special ceremony held at Airbus’s headquarters in Toulouse, France, attended by Airbus and Aegean Airways executives and Greek media, the last of a batch of seven Airbus A320ceo aircraft was officially handed over; it had been commissioned by Aegean, a Star Alliance member, in 2014 and it brings its fleet to 61 in total.
Aegean Airways will commence a twice-weekly flight between Luxembourg and Athens from 19 May 2016.
A320ceo aircraft are equipped with Airbus “Sharklets”, fuel saving wing tip devices, and are powered by IAE V2500 engines. The “Sharklets” are newly-designed wing-tip devices that cut the aircraft’s fuel burn and emissions from 2 - 3 % on average, depending on flight times. They are made from light-weight composites and are 2.4 metres tall.
“It is a very proud moment for us all at AEGEAN, as we reach the fulfilment of a cycle that started in 2007, when we took delivery of the first of an initial eight Airbus aircraft that we had ordered, which have now reached the figure of 47. There were some doubts at the time as to whether the initial order of 8 aircraft would reach completion, due to the size of the investment. As it turned out, the reason we are here today is that we are celebrating not only that initial order, subsequently augmented by repeat orders, but also that, in the midst of the crisis, in 2014, we were bold enough to go ahead with a new order, for another seven aircraft, the last of which is being handed over to us today” said AEGEAN vice-chairman, Eftichios Vassilakis, at the special hand-over ceremony for the A320ceo aircraft.
Opening the ceremony in Toulouse, Christopher Buckley, Airbus’s Executive Vice President for Europe, Africa, and Asia - Pacific, pointed to AEGEAN’s consistent business performance. Mr Buckley said how impressed he was with AEGEAN’s growth, despite this being a very difficult time for Greece; also how great a partner of the Airbus group AEGEAN is: “I feel very proud and privileged to have been working with AEGEAN from the very outset. We’ve developed a fantastic partnership and I’m sure there’s a bright future ahead of us.”
During the handing-over ceremony for the Airbus A320ceo aircraft, AEGEAN’s Managing Director, Dimitris Gerogiannis, gave a brief overview of AEGEAN’s presence in the air transport industry, and highlighted how “AEGEAN now has the largest network ever for a Greek air carrier. Even when Olympic Airways were operating as a state-run carrier there had never been such a widespread network. From 2007 to 2016 there were 47 new A320 aircraft being brought in, representing the largest ever investment undertaken in Greece. We are very happy and very proud to have done our bit in promoting Greece in such a number of European countries, as her ambassadors.” Mr Gerogiannis also said “it’s worth pointing to what has happened with Aegean over the past 3-4 years, particularly in times of crisis and with the acquisition of Olympic Airlines: despite all the difficulties, we are one of a very few companies that continue to grow uninterruptedly for three years, even after a buy-out. Thus, from 2012 to 2015 we have almost doubled our passengers from 6.1 to 11.6 million, and have continued to grow robustly and profitably from 2013 to 2015 - and we shall keep on growing in 2016. This year we shall be operating a fleet of 61 aircraft: 47 Airbus, including the latest seven deliveries from Airbus, and Olympic Air’s 14 turboprops.
“We’re adding 1 million seats, so we now have 16.2 million seats in total, up by some 6%-7% compared to last year, and representing overall more than a 50% rise in seat numbers over the past three years. Also there will be a further 14 destinations added, reaching a total of 145, of which 111 international, the remaining 34 being domestic, and covering practically every airport in Greece, in both the islands and the mainland. Athens too has shown a marked improvement in performance and we’ve been contributing to growth in tourism, while it is significant also that AEGEAN has grown in an environment where GDP has shrunk by 30% over the last five years.”
Dimitris Gerogiannis also spoke about the importance of the work performed by AEGEAN employees, saying that “AEGEAN owes its reputation as a high-quality company to its employees. We are proud to be investing in the training of our staff for 600 flight deck crew, 1200 cabin crew and 340 technical staff. We have a simulator in Munich, and a fixed base A320 simulator, and we are also in the final stages of installing an A320 simulator in Athens. That way we shall be able to have our training in Greece. So we’ve developed the capacity and the necessary critical mass to allow us to pursue this investment too.”
Finally, in responding to journalists’ questions, Mr Eftichios Vassilakis said: “We are here to celebrate the fact that AEGEAN is one of the very few Greek companies that succeeded in making investments during the crisis, and in developing and enhancing its quality and presence, to the benefit of its shareholders and employees, and of Greece as a whole. As a Greek company it’s important to us that we have come to the fulfilment of this investment cycle, which has seen us attaining full operational maturity, with our well trained and growing team working in synergy, and that we have realized the gratifying performance and growth that we have witnessed, which came about thanks to the work done by our people, and the way that we cooperate and deliver results. And, as always, a big word of thanks is due to those working for our company: it is with them, so well qualified and accomplished, that Aegean has expanded strongly in the international market, and that we have held on to that expansion even during the crisis. After the acquisition of Olympic Air, we achieved significant growth, which means we have achieved a larger presence for Greece abroad. In 2013 we had 2,100 staff, last year the figure rose to 2,800, and we expect that in the summer of 2016 we shall be employing 3.000 staff. So we are very proud to have created 900 new jobs over the past 3 years». Mr Eftichios Vassilakis stressed that he is optimistic for Greek tourism, given that Greece is one of the safest countries in Europe, and, in answering a question on the company’s future plans with regard to increasing its fleet, he emphasized: “what we lay claim to, before you all, is the reputation of a company that does more than it says it will. We have all made a point of giving our backing to this approach and it is what you can know us by. I hope that all goes well with Greece, and you’ll be hearing more from us.”
