Aegean Air cuts ticket surcharges as oil drops
ATHENS, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Greek carrier Aegean Airlines (AGNr.AT: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Friday it will cut ticket surcharges by up to 3 euros ($3.84) for domestic and international flights thanks to tumbling oil prices.
Greece’s largest private carrier, whose main competitor Olympic Airlines [OLY.UL] is being privatised, raised surcharges in July when oil prices neared $146. But oil this week neared $43, its lowest level in almost four years.
“Due to the drop in oil prices, Aegean is reducing surcharges on domestic and international routes tickets by two and three euros respectively, starting from January,” the company said in a statement.
It was the second surcharge reduction in a two-month period.
Aegean said this week it will expand its European routes in 2009 despite the global downturn. It will add flights to Brussels, Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna and Venice on new Airbus A320/321 aircraft.
The carrier, which said its fleet will number 21 Airbus jets by May, is also seeking permission from local authorities to begin flights to Istanbul and Tel Aviv.
Aegean reported a 21 percent drop in nine-month profit, to 26.5 million euros ($33.88 million), despite an increase of 13 percent in passengers traffic, due to the strengthening of the dollar versus the euro. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Hans Peters)