LUFTHANSA German Airlines and Aegean Airlines yesterday announced a code-sharing agreement on flights from Cyprus that will give travellers convenient access to several destinations covered by the German airline.
“Passengers from Cyprus therefore will find a wider range of flight options which allows them increased flexibility for their travel plans,” said Eftichios Vassilakis, the vice president of Aegean told a joint news conference in Nicosia yesterday.
He said that Aegean’s passenger numbers from Cyprus had increased from 112,000 in 2004 to more than 300,000 in 2005. Vassilakis said the code-sharing deal with Lufthansa was very important for Aegean and showed the confidence the larger global airline had in the former domestic-airline-turned regional player.
The airline has shown a 20 per cent growth rate on average during the past five years and has recorded profits in the last three. It has signed a contract for the purchase of eight Airbus A320s with the option of ordering 12 more. It offers flights to 14 Greek and seven other European destinations.
The airline’s passengers would now benefit from an even wider choice of destinations, he said.
“Lufthansa has had the vision to select Aegean as a partner for Greece and Cyprus and this is a great honour for us,” Vassilakis added.
Michael Suesser, Lufthansa’s general manager for Greece and Cyprus, said that Aegean’s three daily flights between Larnaca and Athens added perfectly to the existing Lufthansa flights from Larnaca to Frankfurt.
“The possibilities to combine Lufthansa and Aegean flights in one or both directions, the option to make a stopover in Athens on the way out or in now offers our passengers a wide variety of options for their trips to Germany, Europe, north America and many more destinations around the world,” said Suesser.
He said that passenger numbers on Lufthansa, which has five weekly flights from Larnaca to Frankfurt, had increased 7.0 per cent in 2005. “We are especially happy that our Cypriot customers are loyal Lufthansa customers,” he said, adding that the airline has been seeing a 74 per cent load factor on routes from Cyprus. Lufthansa’s global load factor is 75 per cent.
In addition, Suesser said that 40 per cent of their passengers from Cyprus used electronic ticketing in 2005, up 17 per cent from 2004.
He added Aegean had made tremendous progress in recent years. “It has gone from a small domestic airline to a regional player,” he said. “We have been happy to find in Aegean a reliable and strong partner.”
