Aegean Airlines Takes Off into ‘Neo’ Era with Livery, Onboard Product Update

Aegean Airlines made headlines in 2018 when it announced the largest private investment ever by a Greek company with Airbus to renew and grow its fleet. After celebrating 20 years of operations in 2019 and ending the year with record-breaking passenger figures, Aegean Airlines took delivery of three brand new Airbus A320neos within the first month of the new decade.

The A320neo aircraft mark a significant new chapter for the airline. Following weeks of anticipation, Greece’s largest airline introduced its new livery and brand identity in a hangar at Athens E. Venizelos International Airport. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was in attendance at Wednesday’s event and applauded the airline’s business practices. 

Mitsotakis said: “Aegean combines vision with reason and while flying, remains grounded. This is an attribute that the country needs, especially from Greek companies.” He continued to state: “The order is of the magnitude of international giants in the sector.”

The airline’s recent Airbus order is the largest in the carrier’s history. Having already expanded the original order by 12 aircraft, Aegean Airlines plans receive a minimum of 46 brand new A320neo and A321neo jets by 2025.

The airline also holds options for 12 additional aircraft, for a total of up to 58 aircraft. Aegean expects to have three additional aircraft delivered by June 2020, offering 1.5 million additional seats on flights this year. By the end of 2020, the airline expects to operate 11 A320neo and A321neo aircraft, nine of which are sourced through direct leases.

Aegean Airlines does not currently have plans to operate the longer-range A320neo aircraft, the Airbus A321LR or A321XLR, within the next two to three years, but the airline has not ruled the aircraft our completely saying: “Aegean always has an open eye towards longer-range aircraft.”

According to Aegean, every new aircraft will have a significant contribution in Greece’s economy, employment and tourism industry. The airline expects each new aircraft to bring 100,000 new tourists to the country, approximately $87 million in tourism revenue and 70 additional direct new jobs at the airline. 

Speaking at the celebration on Wednesday, Dimitris Gerogiannis, CEO of Aegean Airlines, marked the occasion as the start of Aegean 2.0. This new era will be marked with innovations regarding in-flight services.  

Gerogiannis said: “2020, signifies a new beginning, with a new dynamic, new potential and new identity for Aegean. The next 24 months will be extremely creative for us, since we will design our renewed product offering.”

AirlineGeeks interviewed Gerogiannis last year to get an insight of Aegean’s ability to succeed in a highly competitive and seasonal market. Similar to the interview, Gerogiannis stressed the importance of the new aircraft as a product to enable Aegean employees “to work consistently towards creating a better travelling experience for our passengers.”

Eftychios Vassilakis, Chairman of Aegean Airlines, during his speech, emphasized the significant and ongoing contribution of air transport in the development of the tourism sector as well as the total footprint for Greece. Though a highly seasonal destination, companies in Greece including Aegean Airlines are joining forces to expand the Greek tourism season.  During the first nine months of 2019, over 19 million tourists visited the nation. 

Vassilakis said: “We will continue joining forces with partners to achieve common goals. With a new brand identity, that embodies the true spirit of Greece and our values of hospitality and credibility we aspire that our new fleet will continue our legacy and become a symbol of a new dynamic period for Greece as well.”

Onboard the new A320neo, Aegean has added an extra row of seats for a 180-seat cabin. The airline retained the classic intra-Europe business class configuration with middle seats blocked with a table for aisle and window passengers to utilize. Business class seats and extra-legroom seats offer adjustable headrests while the rest of the economy cabin does not.

All seats have USB outlets and tablet holders, a first for the airline. An updated version of Aegean Stream, the carrier’s entertainment streaming service, will be available onboard with more music, films and services.

The new visual identity of Aegean Airlines was designed by PriestmanGoode. United Airlines recently used the London-based firm to design the evolution to its globe livery which was revealed last year.

Aegean’s new livery features an updated version of the original seagull identity, with refreshed colors to reflect the beauty of Greece’s sea and sky. The new livery also focuses on classic Greek symmetry and had been in the works for over 12 months.

Marina Valvi, Marketing Director of Aegean Airlines, said: “They worked closely with us throughout the process to understand our needs, and to create a new brand identity that was respectful of our much-loved existing identity and reflected our vision for the future. We’re thrilled with the end result and are looking forward to rolling this out across all our products and services.” 

PriestmanGoode worked to ensure the new brand can be applied in digital spaces. The airline aimed to create a brand that offers a vision for Aegean’s future while also respecting the carrier’s original identity.

The airline expects to roll out the new brand through repainting old aircraft as well as updating airport and lounge signage over the next two years. The website and airline’s mobile app will also soon reflect the new identity.

Anthony Morgan, Head of Brand at PriestmanGoode, told Runway Girl Network: “The world has changed immeasurably since the last iteration of the airline’s brand identity, and airlines now need to have a strong online presence. We have designed a distinct identity that can apply across both physical and digital touchpoints.”

The first Airbus A320neo will entered revenue service on Friday, flying from Aegean’s Athens hub to Munich. 

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Mateen Kontoravdis

Mateen has been interested in aviation from a very young age. He loves learning about different aspects of the industry. Mateen has been an editor for the website since early 2017. Most recently, Mateen is additionally the website’s overall strategist. In addition to writing for AirlineGeeks, Mateen is a sophomore at the University of Texas studying Human Dimensions of Organizations. You can also find him on Instagram (@Plane.Photos) where he enjoys sharing his aviation photography with thousands of people on a daily basis.

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