Lufthansa and Aegean Airlines starting extensive cooperation Passengers will benefit from increased number of flights and improved connections

An extensive strategic cooperation was announced by Aegean Airlines and Lufthansa today in Athens.

With the commencement of the winter schedule on October 30 2005, Aegean Airlines intend to become a Partner of Lufthansa. The two airlines will offer code-sharing flights within their networks, i.e. flights of both airlines can then be combined and booked via worldwide reservation systems and issued on one ticket either by Lufthansa or Aegean.

Aegean and Lufthansa passengers as well as partners in the travel industry will benefit from the new agreement. Both airlines will offer them worldwide transfer connections which are coordinated with each other, thus making traveling for their clients as convenient as possible, following the philosophy of seamless travel. The cooperation will also contribute to an improvement in travel comfort in several other areas, such as through check-in facilities for passengers and baggage, lounge access and collection and redemption of miles on flights of both partner airlines.

"Aegean is recognized as a strong regional player by one of the leaders in the global aviation industry. We are glad to become a Partner of Lufthansa in Greece and offer our passengers access to destinations worldwide through the network of Lufthansa", added Mr. Th. Vassilakis, Chairman and Managing Director of Aegean Airlines.

Aegean’s passengers will have improved access to the Lufthansa network and will be better served with improved offers and connections via Germany to 177 worldwide destinations in 73 countries. Such access will be possible via travel agents but also via call centers of Aegean Airlines and Lufthansa and at a later stage through the internet-sites of both partners. Naturally those code-share flights will also be beneficial to travelers from abroad, e.g. from the United States and Canada, as they will be able to reach mainland Greece and the islands conveniently through the partners’ networks.

"The first targets will be the adjustments of the timetables and the offer of excellent worldwide connections in order to better serve our customers. We are especially fortunate that through the new cooperation we connect Northern Greece again with our global network", Mr. J. Steinbach, Vice President Sales & Services Southeast Europe, Africa and Middle East, stated at the press conference today.

The code-share services will initially include all Aegean and Lufthansa flights between Greece and Germany but also other selected flights within Hellas and beyond the Federal Republic of Germany. The latter ones will be determined in the coming months.

Aegean Airlines is the most dynamic airline in Greece growing at an average of 20% per year during the past five years. Aegean is the first Greek airline to offer electronic tickets to the market and the only one to be internationally awarded by ERA with the Airline of the Year gold award. Aegean offers flights to 14 Greek destinations and 12 other European destinations, which also include Munich, Frankfurt, Duesseldorf and Stuttgart.

Lufthansa German Airlines serves Greece since 46 years. Today the leading international carrier in passenger numbers offers 6 daily flights from Athens to Frankfurt and Munich, connecting to 177 Lufthansa destinations worldwide and further on to another 795 cities within the global Star Alliance network.

Speech of Mr. JOACHIM STEINBACH, Lufthansa’s Vice President Sales & Services Southeast Europe, Africa & Middle East

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are pleased to welcome Aegean Airlines today as our latest partner to improve an already major global network.

In the past decade, Lufthansa has consistently worked on developing its network that now enables our customers to reach 177 Lufthansa destinations in 73 countries all over the world. We do this by following the so called philosophy of seamless travel.

This means that we intend to make travelling as convenient as possible. We co-ordinate schedules, so that easy transfers are possible, we recognize frequent flyer miles from partner airlines and co-operate wherever possible to improve our service.

Obviously we have had a very detailed look at Aegean Airlines to see whether this airline would indeed be our preferred partner airline in Greece. And it is.

Our companies have enjoyed a great working relation in other fields in recent years, Aegean pilots; for instance, have long been trained at Lufthansa. Today, we are happy to announce our intention to start working together on the passenger side as well.

Aegean Airlines has made tremendous progress in recent years. From a small domestic airline, it became an important regional player. I can only support the view of Mr. Vassilakis that time has come for Aegean to start linking up with a major European player. I am happy it is Lufthansa that you prefer.

In our view the two airlines fit together very well. For nearly 45 years now, Lufthansa has been connecting Germany and Greece. With the increased importance of global hubs we were able to connect Greece with virtually all other continents.

However, unfortunately back in 2001 we were forced to cancel our own service from Thessaloniki. We are especially happy today that because of the new co-operation, we are now able to re-connect Northern Greece again with all parts of the world. And because Aegean is such a strong player in Thessaloniki, we are able to give a high priority to improving connections from there.

But, our cooperation will not only focus on Northern Greece of course. In the coming months a team of Lufthansa and Aegean managers will work on the implementation of this co-operation intention with a view to start the first code-share flight effective winter schedule 2005, that is October this year. Their first target will be the adjustments of the timetables and the offering of excellent worldwide connections, in order to better serve our customers. In addition further areas of cooperation will be analyzed. Exact details of this cooperation will then be made public.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the managers as well as the Board at both airlines for their support and enthusiasm to make this cooperation possible.

Thank you.