Aegean Airlines passenger traffic up 8 pct in April-May

Aegean Airlines grew passenger traffic on its domestic and foreign routes by 8 percent in April to May compared with last year, starting the summer season on a strong footing, Greece's largest carrier said on Tuesday.

Aegean, a member of the Star Alliance airline group, flies a young fleet of 61 aircraft, mostly Airbus A320 jets.

“The strong investment in the Athens network, coupled with strong demand for (flights) to Greece this year, have yielded a very good start to the summer season,” Aegean's Chief Executive Dimitris Gerogiannis said in a statement.

The carrier flew a total of 2.1 million passengers in the two-month period. Passenger traffic on its international flights grew 15 percent year-on-year to 1.2 million passengers.

Aegean said load factors improved by 8 percentage points to 79 percent compared to the same period last year.

[Reuters]