Aegean Airlines

It was a rollercoaster ride of a session at the Greek bourse on Thursday. Despite the additional concern in the market generated by the result of the first vote for a new president late on Wednesday, the local benchmark managed to recovered from afternoon losses of more than 3 percent to close with gains of almost 1.5 percent, along the lines of other European bourses.

Non-banking chips led the local stock index to a significant recovery on Wednesday before the first vote for a new president took place, with traders buying into the optimistic scenario from the government camp that “it will be alright on the night” of the third vote on December 29.

A slight improvement in the coalition government’s poll ratings and in its chances to gather the votes needed for a president to be elected later this month following positive statements by a number of independent deputies, has started to shift the mood on the local market after last week’s sell-off, leading to a small recovery on Monday.

Black Tuesday’s sell-off continued during early trade on Wednesday at the Athens bourse, with the benchmark down more than 4 percent at one point. However, most stocks managed to contain their losses, and gains by some of the previous day’s biggest losers, including MIG and PPC, limited the damage to a drop of just 1 percent at the end of the session.

The prospect of convergence between Athens and its creditors on a technical extension of the Greek bailout agreement, coupled with some signs that Parliament may elect a president and prevent snap polls sent stocks soaring on Friday, though this time it was non-banking blue chips that led the way.

Aegean Airlines reported a strong set of nine-month 2014 results on Thursday, driven by successful network expansion and Olympic Air synergies.

Consolidated revenues increased by 10 percent to 736 million euros, pre-tax earnings improved to 105.4 million euros from 75.9 million a year earlier while net earnings rose 31 percent to 78.6 million euros from 60 million in 2013.

The Cypriot government said on Wednesday it has yet to receive any serious interest in Cyprus Airways, four months after launching a search for investors in the struggling airline.

Communications Minister Marios Demetriades appeared to dismiss interest from Ireland’s Ryanair and Greece’s Aegean Airlines, which have been holding talks with his government.

By Alexandra Kassimi

Aegean Airlines announced on Tuesday it is adding 16 new destinations in 10 new countries to its network next summer, reaching a total of 134 destinations, 34 domestic and 100 abroad in 42 countries.

By Alexandra Kassimi

Aegean Airlines celebrated the first anniversary of its merger with Olympic Air, announcing that the two carriers’ international traffic has grown by 493,000 passengers year-on-year to reach 4.7 million, while domestic traffic has gone up by 652,000 passengers to 5.1 million.

Fares to all destinations have fallen by an average 34 percent.

Aegean Airlines announced on Wednesday it will spend $300 million on the acquisition of seven new Airbus A320ceos in the next couple of years, and is planning a tender between Airbus and Boeing next year for the radical renewal of its fleet, starting with aircraft acquired in 2007.