Aegean Airlines plans to purchase four extended-range Airbus A321neo to serve markets outside the European Union, primarily to the south and southeast of Greece. These aircraft will have additional fuel tanks, providing the capacity to operate flights of up to seven and a half hours.
The cabin configuration of these aircraft will not be similar to the traditional cabin configuration offered by the airline, Economy and Business Class passengers and the number of seats decreases from 220 on Aegean’s standard A321neo version to less than 180 seats.
Features also include satellite connectivity, in-flight entertainment (IFE screens) at all seats, and a Business Class product with reclining seats. The airline will hold a Q2 2024 media event to present the features of these aircraft.
Aegean plans to use this product to serve existing and potentially new destinations outside the European Union with a minimum flight time of about 4 hours and 7.5 hours. Indicatively, on existing destinations in the Gulf (Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai) or potential new services (e.g. Bahrain, Doha, Muscat), but also in Central Africa (e.g. Lagos, Addis Ababa, Nairobi) and in Asia with the potential to serve routes such as Delhi or Mumbai in India or Almaty in Kazakhstan.
These destinations outside the European Union, due to longer flight times and market characteristics, are usually operated to/from European capitals by airlines using more comfortable aircraft and a different configuration than intra-European cabins. These aircraft will be delivered to Aegean in 2026 and 2027.
“We believe in the great opportunity for AEGEAN and for our country to develop markets beyond the EU, whether in the Gulf area, in Africa, or in regions of Asia that could be served with a special, extended range version of the A321neo, given our location at the southeastern tip of Europe. We further recognize the need for a cabin with significantly superior comfort and experience characteristics to effectively represent AEGEAN’s service values to our passengers in these markets,” said Dimitris Gerogiannis, CEO of Aegean Airlines.
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