It aims to further strengthen its presence as a regional air carrier. Aegean Sea. To do this, the airline is one of the three applicants for the project to launch new subsidized international routes from Skopje and Ohrid airports to European destinations. The start of the tender was announced last December by North Macedonian Minister of Transport Blagoj Bokvarski, and with the bid deadline of January 19, the contractor could be announced next week.

The other two carriers vying for certain routes are Lufthansa and Wizz Air, which have won the last three of their respective competitions. However, this time, according to what the Minister of Transport of North Macedonia mentioned at a press conference in December 2022, more than one airline will be selected, meaning that Aegean has a better chance of becoming one of the preferred contractors. Flights will be subsidized at 7.5 euros and 4.5 euros per passenger from Skopje and St. Petersburg. Pavlos” Ohrid, respectively, for the period from the current year to December 2025. For this year, the state budget of North Macedonia provides for an amount of 1.1 million euros. Some of the carrier selection criteria include serving the proposed destinations twice a week and promoting them. Today Aegean connects El. Venizelos” and “Macedonia” from Skopje with two and up to four flights per week, respectively. The total passenger flow of the two international airports in North Macedonia was formed in 2022 at the level of approximately 2.3 million people, according to the data of the Ministry of Transport of the country.

According to the Croatian press, Aegean is interested in acquiring Croatia Airlines.

Strengthening activities in South East Europe is a strategic goal of Aegean, which the media in the region are showing as interested in acquiring Croatia Airlines. The Croatian government has started the privatization of Croatia’s loss-making national carrier, but the process has been put on hold due to the pandemic. At the same time, since October 2021, the airline controls 51% of the Romanian Animawings. The carrier flies from ten Romanian airports to Athens, Corfu, Chania, Kos, Kefalonia, Heraklion, Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes and Zakynthos.

More broadly, enhancing extraversion is another of Aegean’s main goals. Therefore, a few days ago, the airline resumed its exclusive cooperation with TUI France for three years, while the alliance of the two companies has twenty years.

Aegean is establishing a new regional base at Lille Airport, France, to serve its summer and winter destinations and TUI France packages exclusively with direct flights to Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, Bulgaria, Croatia and Montenegro. The airline will offer 1 million seats to and from France this summer, carrying more than 700,000 passengers last year. This summer season, which is expected to start earlier, Aegean will connect Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion with Paris and a significant number of major French cities with scheduled flights and increased frequency.