European Regions Airline Association

Greece's largest carrier Aegean Airlines said on Thursday its passenger numbers rose 12 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2017, mostly on international routes where traffic rose by 16 percent.

The decision to fire warning shots at a Turkish helicopter near the Aegean islet of Ro on Monday was, according to a government source, a message to Ankara that despite its strategy of non-escalation, Athens is also determined to defend its sovereign rights. Greece, the same source said, must demonstrate that there are limits to what it will tolerate within its territory.

Aegean airlines air hostesses take selfies after a news conference in Athens, Wednesday. In a deal worth up to $5 billion, Greek airline Aegean says it will buy 30 new Airbus aircraft, with the option of an additional 12, to upgrade its fleet as the country expects to break tourism records. The signing of the final purchase agreement is expected in June. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]

Aegean Airlines will order 42 aircraft worth $5 billion (4 billion euros) from Airbus as Greece's largest carrier renews its fleet of single-aisle planes, company executives said on Wednesday.

The order is the largest by a Greek carrier and one of the biggest investments by a private Greek company since the country's debt crisis broke out in 2010.

Greece's largest carrier Aegean Airlines said on Thursday full-year 2017 net earnings grew 87 percent to 60.4 million euros (£53.3 million) on improved load factors and higher sales.

Aegean, a member of the Star Alliance airline group, said revenue last year rose by 1 percent to 1.127 billion euros with its load factor improving to 83.2 percent from 77.4 percent a year earlier.

Athens is rapidly growing as a tourism destination in itself rather than simply a transit point for foreign tourists heading to the islands, according to figures revealed on Wednesday by Aegean Air and Athens International Airport at the ITB international travel fair in Berlin.

A 17-year-old girl from the Aegean province of İzmir is very happy to have become Turkey’s first woman fencer to win a European title.

Turkish airline Pegasus carried a total of 27.8 million passengers in 2017, a 15.2 percent increase from the previous year, the airline announced in a written statement late on Jan. 15.

While Greece is planning the upgrading of its F-16 fighter jet fleet, the Turkish air-force violated Greek airspace over the Aegean Sea 33 times on Friday. The violations and infringements took place by the CN-235 reconnaissance airplane over the North-eastern, central and south-eastern Aegean Sea, while there were two infringements of the Athens FIR.

Insolvent German airline Air Berlin hopes to complete its sale by September, the group's chief executive said, as government officials fended off accusations of favoring Lufthansa in the bankruptcy process.

"We want to settle the sale in September at the latest, otherwise customers' trust in the airline will vanish," chief executive Thomas Winkelmann told newspaper Bild am Sonntag.