Who is Aegean Airlines owned by?

Who is Aegean Airlines owned by?

Aegean Airlines was founded in 1987 as Aegean Aviation. In 1994, the company was acquired by the Vasilakis Group and began to offer VIP flights from Athens all over the world using wholly owned Learjet aircraft. Since then, Aegean Airlines has become one of the largest airlines in Greece and also one of the fastest growing airlines in Europe.

Vasilakis Group Ownership

The Vasilakis Group is a Greek holding company that owns a number of companies, including Aegean Airlines. The group’s founder, Dimitris Vasilakis, serves as its chairman and CEO. Other members of the family are involved in the management of some of its companies, including Aegean Airlines.

Vasilakis Family Influence

The Vasilakis family has been influential in shaping Aegean Airlines’ growth strategy since its acquisition by their holding company. In recent years, they have led efforts to expand operations into new markets and introduce innovative services that have helped make Aegean one of Europe’s most successful airlines. They have also invested heavily in research and development to ensure that their airline remains competitive with other major carriers on both domestic and international routes.

Future Plans for Expansion

The Vasilakis Group plans to continue investing heavily in Aegean Airlines over the coming years as it seeks to further expand its presence across Europe and beyond. This includes hiring more staff, upgrading existing aircrafts and introducing new ones to meet increased demand for air travel services throughout Europe. By continuing to focus on customer service excellence while expanding its network further afield, the team at Aegean believes that it can remain one of Europe’s premier airlines for many years to come.

In conclusion , it is clear that the Vasilakis Group has had an immense influence on making Aegean Airlines what it is today – one of Europe’s leading airlines with ever-expanding operations across multiple continents . With continued support from this powerful family , there seems no doubt that this trend will continue well into the future .

 

Aegean Airlines History

Aegean Airlines was founded as Aegean Aviation in 1987. After it was acquired by Vasilakis Group in 1994, the airline commenced VIP flights from Athens all over the world with wholly owned Learjet aircraft.

In May 1999, Aegean began commercial flights from Athens to Heraklion, Crete and Thessaloniki with 2 new British Aerospace Avro RJ100 planes. A few months later in December 1999, Aegean acquired Air Greece. Since 2005, the airline has been in partnership with Lufthansa and has entered into co-operation agreements with TAP Air Portugal and Brussels Airlines.

To expand their services even further, Aegean Airlines started codeshare agreements with BMI, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and TAP Air Portugal in 2009. Later that same year on June 30th , 2010 Aegean officially joined Star Alliance after their membership application had been approved by the Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance earlier that month. In February 2010 initial shareholder discussions took place to consider cooperation between Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air leading to rumors of a possible merger which both companies confirmed they had agreed upon on February 22nd ,2010 .

The merged airline would carry the Olympic brand name after a transition period where both brands were used in parallel . However this merger was blocked by the European Commission due to anti-competition concerns since it would have created a “quasi monopoly” controlling more than 90% of Greek domestic air transport market leading to higher fares for passengers flying to and from Athens each year without any realistic prospects that new airlines would enter the market to restrain them .

On August 13 2013 it was published that final decision had been delayed until October 16th 2013 but finally on October 9th 2013 the merger was approved citing “due to the ongoing Greek crisis and given Olympic’s own very difficult financial situation , Olympic would be forced to leave the market soon in any event” .

Finally on February 1st 2014 Aegan Airlines took over every non-Public Service Obligation route previously operated by Olympic Air.