ATHENS – Aegean Airlines on Thursday announced that the airline set a new passenger traffic record in 2019, reaching the 15 million passenger threshold, recording a 7.0 pct increase in total passenger traffic for 2019; a significant achievement marking 20 years of operation. More specifically Aegean and Olympic Air carried 14.99 million passengers in 2019, nearly 1 million more than the previous year, offering 17.85 million seats in total.

The increase resulted the repeatedly enhanced investment at the international network, which continues to be the main driver of growth with 8.7 million passengers, an equivalent to an 11 pct increase. This increase was driven both from the Athens hub (+11 pct) as well as the regional bases of Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Chania, Rhodes, Kalamata (+ 8pct) where they are growing at a significantly larger pace compared to the general trend of the country, which shows signs of reduction.

Domestic traffic also reported a marginal increase of 3 pct, despite the remaining significant burden of increased passenger VAT, which remains for four consecutive years (2016-2019) at 24 pct. Load factor rate improved by almost 1 percentage point (pp), from 83.9 pct in 2018 to 84.8 pct in 2019.

Dimitris Gerogiannis, CEO of Aegean Airlines, commented “We achieved an 11 pct growth in international traffic and a 7 pct overall for 2019 by expanding our capacity mainly at the beginning and end of the traditional tourist season. We will continue to invest in expanding the tourist season and by offering enhanced quality services for our customers as this is at quest for achieving both sustainable development and growth for the company, tourism industry and the country.”