A strong summer helped Greek carrier Aegean boost profits against a backdrop of rising fuel costs.
Aegean and its subsidiary Olympic Air carried 10.8 million passengers in the nine months to September 30, up 6% over the same period in 2017.
Revenue grew by 5% to €939.3 million while pre-tax profits rose by 14% to €115.8 million.
Total passengers via the airline’s Athens hub on international routes increased by 12%. The load factor improved to 83.6% from 82.9% last year “as a result of efficient revenue and network management”.
Pre-tax earnings in the peak summer three months increased by 4% to €134.1 million, despite a significant rise of fuel costs which stood at 27% for the quarter even after the effect of hedging.
The airline agreed in June to order 42 new generation Airbus A320neo family aircraft.
Managing director Dimitris Gerogiannis said: “We have once again delivered strong profitability in the summer season, through developing our Athens hub but equally through new products and services which add value to our passengers.
“Our result was achieved despite the presence of new competitors with significant additional capacity in both domestic and international network as well as the effect of rising oil prices.
“We have followed a prudent and focused capacity development strategy for a second consecutive year.
“We focus on developing the right skills sets and infrastructure so as to ensure the efficient use of our new fleet investment which is critical for our future capabilities.”