AEGEAN AIRLINES orders two more Avro RJ100s to standardize jet fleet after airlines acquisition

BAE SYSTEMS Regional Aircraft today announced that Aegean Airlines of Athens, Greece, has signed a second repeat order for two Avro RJ100s. The aircraft will be delivered in June and July this year, taking Aegean’s fleet of the type to six.

The move follows Aegean’s purchase of rival Air Greece during December ’99. This will make Aegean the second largest airline in the country, behind Olympic. Air Greece operates two Fokker 100s and three ATR-72s and right from the outset, Aegean’s Chairman and CEO Mr. Theodoros Vassilakis acknowledged the wish to replace the Fokkers and standardise its jet fleet with Avros.

“Since we entered service in May 1999, our Avro RJ100s have been achieving a very high despatch reliability”, said Aegean Airlines Chief Operations Officer Antonis Symigdalas. “With the arrival of our fourth RJ100 in December 1999 and the introduction of new routes from Athens to Ioannina and Mytelene, plus increased frequencies on the existing network, the RJ100s are flying as much as 12 hours a day. No other jet could better the Avro’s performance”, he said.

Load factors on Aegean’s network, which also links Athens with Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Chania, Rhodes, Corfu and Kavala, are now averaging 65%. The full integration of Crete-based Air Greece, which also serves many of these domestic routes, should be complete by next month and Aegean is forecasting it will carry 1.6 million passengers in 2000. For the second half of 1999, Aegean Airlines carried 310.000 passengers.

“We are very pleased at the terrific progress Aegean Airlines has achieved in such a short space of time. The Aegean Team has enthusiastically embraced all the opportunities available to them in the deregulated Greek market and the Avro RJ100 has played a vital role in realising this growth” said BAE SYSTEMS Managing Director Mike O’Callaghan. He added:- “This latest order for two more RJ100s, coming so soon after the initial order in January 1999 and a second in April, is a strong endorsement of the RJ100s reliability and passenger appeal in a demanding and competitive environment”.