Aegean, the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carried, by number of destinations served and by fleet size has announced this week its 9-month 2014 results.

Due to successful network expansion and Olympic Air synergies, consolidated revenue increased by 10% to €736m, pre-tax earnings improved to €105.4m from €75.9m while net earnings rose by 31% to €78.6m from €60m in 2013.

Αegean and Olympic Air carried 7.9m in the 9-month period to September 2014, an increase of 14% compared to 2013 with load factor at 79%. Traffic in the domestic network increased by 16% with the market showing good elasticity to lower fares.

International traffic rose by 12%, with traffic out of Athens registering a higher growth rate of 18% on the back of Aegean’s network expansion and a strong rebound for the city’s incoming tourism.

Operating cash flow improved to €124m, resulting to cash & short term investments rising to €264m at the end of September, despite the share capital return which took place in July 2014 as well as pre-delivery payments to Airbus in relation to the recently announced aircraft order.

Mr. Dimitris Gerogiannis, Managing Director, commented:

“We have managed to deliver improved commercial and financial results, driven by synergies from Olympic Air integration, network optimization targeting improved connectivity as well higher tourist flows. Our expansion strategy has yielded positive results in a period of intensifying competition and despite traffic weakness demonstrated from the Russian market.

We will continue to invest in growing our fleet and capacity for 2015, adding destinations and penetrating new source markets for Greek tourism. Our key priorities involve continuous investments in growing our network, achieving scale economies as well as focusing on new service offerings to our passengers within a fast changing competitive environment that does offer however significant opportunities to grow further.”