Greeces commercial carrier Aegean Airlines has increased operations to the Middle East, with regular flights to Abu Dhabi and Bahrain
The Greek airline has restarted services with Bahrain's Gulf Air, which in turn will operate flights four times a week to Athens in an Airbus A320R.
Additionally, Abu Dhabi International Airport welcomed its first Aegean Airlines flight last week, and a 168-seater Airbus A320 will fly four times a week directly into Abu Dhabi.
Dimitris Gerogiannis, CEO of Aegean Airlines, said, ?We have taken the strategic decision to enhance our presence in the wider Gulf area and, through our partnership with Etihad Airways, we are now in a position to offer enhanced connection possibilities and premium services to our clients.?
Etihad Airways entered a codeshare agreement with the Greek carrier in December 2013, and has also approved a wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the Athens-to-Abu Dhabi route.
Etihad Airways CEO Peter Baumgartner said, "Year on year, our Athens route has exceeded our expectations and we are delighted to build on this success by adding more capacity to and from Greece, and officially mark our codeshare partnership here in Athens with Aegean [Airlines]."
Baumgartner added, "Etihad Airways will place its EY flight code on these new Aegean services, focussing on our guests in the travel and tourism industry, the business community and governments. We look forward to further cementing the strong ties between Greece and the UAE.?
Results from Q1 2014 show that the company carried 1.6mn passengers - 12 per cent more than 2013 - and welcomed 700,000 international passengers, which is a six per cent increase on the previous year.
