Greek vacations make Aegean one of Europe’s most profitable airlines This Summer

Europeans, in fact travelers from all over the world, are taking Greek vacations. That was overwhelmingly clear in the Aegean Airlines summer results. The Athens-based carrier generated an impressive 28.8% operating margin in Q3, more than 3 points higher than in 2019. And Aegean’s results were second only to European budget giant Ryanair, which posted a 35% margin during the a red-hot summer travel months of July, August, and September. The Greek airline reported a E121m net profit in the period. Why was Aegean on fire? Greek beaches, obviously. Since the pandemic recovery began in 2020, leisure travelers have shown an overwhelming preference for outdoor destinations, be they beaches or mountains. This has turned some airports in otherwise sleepy locales before the crisis into travel boomtowns during the recovery. In Greece, airports serving beach spots, like Chania, Corfu, and Santorini, saw 30-percent plus increases in seats during the first nine months of the year compared to 2019, according to Diio by Cirium schedules. And travelers are filling many of those additional seats. The number of international visitors arriving in Greece by plane was up 4% to 3.1m in September compared to 2019, according to data from the Greek Tourism Confederation. International arrivée numbers were flat at 18.5 million for the first nine months of 2022 — an impressive result given numbers were down by more than half in January.<br/>