By turning the crisis into an opportunity to grow and strengthen its fleet, while also reposition itself in the new travel status quo that is taking shape in the post-Covid-19 era, SKY express is changing track, aiming to take market share from Aegean Airlines on popular routes both domesticαlly and internationally.
Even though the sizes of the two companies are not comparable, now with the acquisition of the six new Airbus A320neo, SKY express has the ability to enter popular and commercial routes at home and abroad, changing its… DNA, as up until now it had mainly served low demand routes.
"The existence of monopolies in any sector does not work constructively for the market. We are breaking the monopolies where they exist, something that will work positively for travelers and society." With these words, the general manager of the IOGR group (to which SKY express belongs) Vasiliki Christidis gave the stigma of the company's intentions during yesterday's presentation of the new aircraft.
"Our courage to invest in the crisis is paying off for us. The crisis was a growth opportunity for the company. We are fighting our own battle to establish Greece as a 12-month destination. We are working to take advantage of the momentum and benefits offered by the international trend of remote work. The tourist season that begins finds SKY express in full readiness to contribute to the revitalization of the economy and tourism ", Christidis.
At the same time, describing the profile of Sky express, she pointed out with special emphasis that "we are a Greek company that is not dependent on anyone, we are growing with our own means, while we have zero debt."
Flights to London, Brussels and Paris
At a time when flight operations are shrinking internationally, SKY express is expanding to a total of 43 national and international destinations. After the start of flights abroad with Larnaca and Brussels and the expansion inland with new itineraries to Thessaloniki and Rhodes, it will soon connect Volos with Heraklion, Crete, while entering popular destinations abroad.
The weekly flights Athens - Paris (Charles de Gaulle) start on June 5, while on August 1 the route Athens - London will start at Heathrow. Speaking about Heathrow, she stressed that it will become a hub for the whole of Europe for us, as it will connect us with countries, such as the USA and South America. "Our goal is a stable and permanent presence in the heart of Europe," said Christidis.
She also announced that the routes Larnaca, Brussels and Paris will not be seasonal but will be kept through to summer 2022, indicating the company's faith and commitment to support Greek tourism. At the same time, some seasonal itineraries will be added - only for the summer - to Hamburg, Dortmund, Lyon and Nantes.
As Christidis pointed out, throughout last season the company did not stop any of the 34 domestic routes, although in many cases there were no passengers due to the lockdown. The planes transported medicines, food, vaccines and other goods. In fact, as she noted, according to Eurocontrol, the airline was in 18th place in the density of routes worldwide in 2020, precisely because of this development.
For 2021, she expressed her optimism that the year will be relatively successful "as there is a great thirst for people to travel, while demand for tickets due to the health certificate is rising rapidly. We will exceed 50 percent of 2019 this year ", she pointed out.
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