Julian Moxon/ATHENS
Greek scheduled carrier Aegean Airlines has taken delivery of the first two of up to four British Aerospace Avro RJ100s, as it joins the attack on the former monopoly of state-owned Olympic Airlines.
Aegean will begin operating scheduled services with the aircraft to Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Chania and Rhodes on 31 May.
General manager Antonis Symigdalas says the airline is evaluating several more routes, with a decision on how to proceed due this year. "We're aiming at providing a high-class business service that currently doesn't exist in this country. If things go according to plan, we may increase the size of the fleet," he says. "We believe six aircraft is the right number to get the maximum economy of scale."
The airline was the first in Greece to obtain an air operators licence, in 1992. It has since been running an international charter operation and waiting for the end of the European Commission's (EC) five-year extension of Olympic's rights to continue monopoly services on non-profitable routes to the Greek Islands. This ended on 1 January, since when Cronos Airlines, Air Greece, and now Aegean, have been licensed for scheduled operations.
Olympic, meanwhile, awaits a decision from the Greek Ministry of Transport on which airline will take over its management, following an operations analysis by London-based consultancy Salomon Brothers. A decision is linked to the release of the final tranche of government recapitalisation funding by the EC. This is seen as essential if the airline is to continue its fleet renewal programme and reduce operating costs.
A battle to end another Olympic monopoly, this time on ground handling, has been won by a new company, Goldair Handling, formed by a consortium which includes Aegean, Lufthansa, KLM, Frankfurt Airport, Alpha Credit Bank and the Plotin Group. Goldair won exclusive rights in March last year to carry out passenger handling at Athens Airport and a full ground handling licence is expected to be awarded imminently. Goldair says it intends to expand operations to Thessaloniki and Heraklion.
Symigdalas says: "The end of restrictions on scheduled services to the Greek Islands and liberalisation of ground handling were the two conditions for us to commit to the RJ100s."
The aircraft, which have been purchased for around $28 million each, are furnished with five-abreast leather seating throughout. He says the operation will break-even with load factors of 52% initially. The third RJ100 is due to arrive in September.
Aegean was taken over by the powerful Vassilakis group in 1994. It claims to be the "sole independent airline in Greece with new jet equipment."
Source: Flight International
