Aegean Airlines said on Wednesday that it intends to create a sub-fleet of four ‘special purpose’ Airbus A321neo aircraft that will primarily used to serve non-EU destinations with an upgraded cabin, including lie-flat Business Class seats, seatback screens at every seat and Wi-Fi.
The aircraft will be used on flights of around four hours up to around seven and a half hours and could be used for existing destinations such as Dubai, Riyadh and Jeddah, as well as a slew of new destinations that Aegean isn’t currently able to serve.
Potential new destinations shared by Aegean included Delhi and Mumbai in India or Almati in Kazakhstan, as well as well Lagos, Addis Ababa, and Nairobi in Africa. The airline could also use the aircraft to open up new destinations in the Middle East, including Bahrain, Doha and Muscat.
Founded in 1995, Aegean is the largest passenger airline in Greece and the country’s defacto flag carrier. Based out of Athens, the airline operates a fleet of 62 Airbus A320 series aircraft, along with one Learjet for private hire.
Aegean has built an extensive route network across Europe and has configured its Airbus fleet with cabins that are typical for the European market. That’s to say that these aircraft don’t have seatback television or even recliner style Business Class seats.
The airline’s longest current flight is to Dubai, as well as Edinburgh and Dublin, each of which has a flight time of around four hours.
Aegean’s existing A321neo aircraft are fitted with 220 seats but with the lie-flat Business Class seats, the capacity will drop to just 180 on the new ‘special purpose’ fleet which will be delivered to the airline between 2026 and 2027.
“We believe in the great opportunity for Aegean and for our country that lies in developing markets beyond the EU, either in the Gulf area, Africa or in regions of Asia which could be served with a special, extended range, version of the A321neo given our location in the southeast edge of Europe,” commented CEO Dimitris Gerogiannis.
“We further recognize the necessity of a cabin with a significantly higher comfort and experience features to effectively represent AEGEAN’s service values, for our passengers in these markets,” Gerogiannis continued.
