Aegean Airlines is at the stage of “bureaucratic processing” for inaugurating twice-weekly flights between Thessaloniki and Izmir this year, airline CEO Dimitris Gerogiannis told the 4th Greece Talks innovation conference in the northern Greek port city on Wednesday.
Speaking at the conference segment on “Tourism develops in developing cities,” Gerogiannis said that the coastal Turkish city of Izmir “has been discussed for some time now, and comprises a destination connected to Thessaloniki at the traditional, cultural and historical level.”
Referring to Aegean’s domestic flights at Thessaloniki’s Makedonia Airport, the carrier’s CEO said these have risen by 30%, while the airline connects the northern city with eight or nine islands, including, as of this year, Syros.
“We believed in Thessaloniki when nobody was taking any notice of it, and I believe we contributed to the city’s growth in a very consistent way,” Gerogiannis said. “In 2019, we flew from Thessaloniki to nine or 10 destinations abroad, which today number 20. As of this year, and in the spirit of investing in the city, Aegean will increase the number of seats in the network abroad by 7%, and we believe and hope that the number of passengers we will transport will reach 3 million people,” he said.
A fleet of eight aircraft are permanently stationed at Makedonia Airport and the airline staff there numbers 300, Georgiannis said. He also noted that the number of passengers flying with Aegean in Thessaloniki rose 6% in 2024.