Greece's largest private air carrier Aegean Airlines announced on April 12 the launch of its daily flights between Athens and Sofia.

The price of a round-trip ticket between the two capitals is 180 euro, with the one-way fare at 90 euro, Theodoros Vassilakis, president and CEO of Aegean Airlines, told a news conference. Aegean also offers lower prices to tour operators for tourist packages that include the air fare, Vassilakis said.

Aegean has not yet planned flights originating between other destinations in Bulgaria and Greece, like the Black Sea cities of Varna and Bourgas, or the Greek port of Thessaloniki. The company intends to cover these destinations via charter flights. Aegean, according to Vassilakis, is the largest charter carrier in Greece.

Aegean Airlines was founded as Aegean Aviation in 1987. It was originally a VIP/business air operation specialising in executive and air ambulance services. In 1992 it became the first airline to be issued with a Greek independent air operator's licence.

After it was bought by the Vassilakis Group in 1994, Aegean Aviation commenced VIP flights from Athens to destinations worldwide with wholly owned Learjet aircraft. The Aegean Airlines title was adopted with the start of scheduled passenger services at the end of May 1999.

Aegean Airlines has transported 20 million passengers since 1999 and four million passengers in 2005 alone. The company covers 97 per cent of the Greek market servicing flights to 15 domestic destinations, as well as nine international ones, operating in co-operation with German Lufthansa, Italy's Air One and TAP in Portugal.

"I am certain that our presence on the Bulgarian market will boost business co-operation and will assist extensively tourism in both our countries," Vassilakis said. In his view, the flight schedule of Aegean for Bulgaria is designed to serve both business travellers, as well as passengers coming to Sofia for tourism and recreation.

Aegean is also the first Greek airline to introduce electronic tickets (e-tickets) and e-check-in services. For its passenger-recognised quality of service, Aegean has already received a number of European awards, including the bronze, silver and golden awards of the European Regions Airline Association.

According to Vassilakis, in the past three years, Aegean Airlines has contribute a 65 per cent share to the growth of passengers at the new Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos.

In addition to the 18 jets it already operates (Boeings 737-300 and -400, as well as Bae RJ100), Aegean will soon add 11 new Airbus 320 aircraft. The company signed a contract in December 2005 to buy or lease the 11 planes, with an option to purchase an additional 12.

"The new aircraft will replace the Boeing 737s in our fleet and will support our expansion in the region," Vassilakis said.

The company intends to develop regionally, and after Bulgaria the next flight destinations it will start to cover will be Turkey, Egypt and Romania.

`Aegean believes in Bulgaria's economic development'
Aegean Airlines believes that Bulgaria's economic development will bring it more passengers from this country in the following years, the company's president and CEO Theodoros Vassilakis said in an interview with The Sofia Echo.

The first flights of Aegean between Athens and Sofia have shown that mainly Greek business travellers and tourists use the service. This initial lack of Bulgarians aboard their aircraft can be partially explained with the fact that, for example, bus companies offer much cheaper fares than the 200 euro round-trip ticket for a distance that is not so long in two neighbouring countries.

According to Vassilakis, however, a balance in the number of Greek and Bulgarian passengers aboard Aegean will soon be achieved, provided the positively developing economy of Bulgaria and the rising incomes in this country.

"At the moment, most of the passengers that fly between Bulgaria and Greece are either business travellers or Greeks visiting Bulgaria's winter skiing resorts. But, Greek investment in Bulgaria will be the first factor to contribute to an increase in the number of Bulgarians using our flight services," Vassilakis said.

Greek companies are some of the largest investors in Bulgaria and they will start using the flights of Aegean Airlines to transport their employees and teams to Greece for training or meetings, Vassilakis believes.

As he sees it, air transport has not yet become as common a means of mass transport in the Balkans as it has in other regions of the world. He cited statistics showing that about 20 per cent of the Greek population uses air transport. But, economic development, competition driving prices down and other processes will boost the flight coverage in the region, Vassilakis says.

"We practically created the passenger traffic in Cyprus after launching our service there and now we have 25 per cent of the traffic there. This came as a result of the competition," Vassilakis said.

In his words, travellers must have in mind that air carriers are not offering lower prices because of a number of reasons, including the rising oil prices, the taxes and fees they have to pay to airline authorities and airports and others. However, airlines are still the fastest transport and this is what secures their future development, Vassilakis says.