Greece’s Aegean Airlines announced last week enhancing its network operations with more direct international flights to the Greek islands.
According to a company announcement, between 17 and 20 aircraft will operate direct flights from seven regional bases offering a total of 65 international scheduled routes.
In the announcement, AEGEAN said 33 new direct routes would be added from the airline’s bases in Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Rhodes, Chania as well as the three new bases on the islands of Corfu, Santorini and Mykonos.
The airline made the decision to expand its network in regional Greece since during 2020 the company observed visitors were staying longer at their chosen destination and avoided combining two or three destinations, which was a usual practice. Aegean expects the trend to continue as long as the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is present. The company offered this:
“This tendency and AEGEAN’s commitment to satisfy passengers demands, has resulted in this new network for the season 2021, with the strengthening and expansion of its operations and many more direct flights to and from the islands.”
AEGEAN will 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 directly connecting popular Greek island destinations in 2021 to more than 100. In addition, the airline’s Athens base remains the main hub of its network activity, with 37 to 40 aircraft connecting Athens and the Greek mainland with smaller island destinations.
International operations from the regional bases are scheduled to commence in May and June 2021 and are already available in all reservation systems. The finalization of the new program will be completed by February in preparation. The company says this will allow for a clearer view of the COVID situation. CEO Dimitris Gerogiannis left off with this:
“We are now standing at the most difficult turning point of the pandemic. 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.”