Greek flag carrier Aegean Airlines plans to fly a bit further from 2026. The carrier converted four of its pending A321neo orders to the long-range version of the aircraft, supporting flights up to 7.5 hours from its hub in Athens.
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.
– Aegean CEO Dimitris Gerogiannis
These new planes will feature a more premium inflight product compared to the current A320neo family layout. This will include satellite-based inflight internet, rather than the air-to-ground service on board today, allowing for coverage throughout the longer routes. The company partners with Viasat for internet today and has generally raved about the performance of that network, suggesting that Viasat sits in the lead for securing the long-haul contract as well.
In-seat entertainment screens will also feature throughout the cabin. And, perhaps most notably, Aegean will fit the business class cabin with lie-flat beds for increased comfort. Overall the seating capacity on board will drop from 220 today to less than 180 on the premium layout.
The company cited several existing and new potential markets for the new planes. These include markets in Central Africa, the Middle East, and South/Central Asia. The company has some time to pick which specific routes it will operate, however, with the new planes not joining the fleet until 2026-2027.
CEO Dimitris Gerogiannis notes that the “significant investment in the extended range and a totally new level of comfort for an initial four aircraft sub-fleet to give our crews the right tool to best represent AEGEAN values for these longer flight markets. It’s one more big step towards growing our reach and capabilities and we look forward to welcoming our passengers from these markets to this new level of experience with us in the years to come.”
Moreover, with just four planes featuring the new layout it will be challenging to serve too many of these extended routes, at least on a daily basis. Less-than-daily service often struggles to attract the higher yielding business travelers, so that is certainly something to watch as these plans evolve. But, as Gerogiannis shared in the statement, this is an “initial” sub-fleet, not necessarily the final size.
Aegean holds orders for 50 total A320neo family planes. Twenty-eight have been delivered so far while another 22 are due by the end of 2028. Half of the planes will be regular A321neo. Another 21 are expected to be A320neo and the four indicated today will be the longer range configuration. Presumably additional future deliveries could also be converted, though timing on that is tight given the existing delivery schedule.
The company did not specify if the four are A321LR or A321XLRs, nor did it respond to a query about that prior to publication. The 7.5 hour outside range implies the A321LR (Airbus pitches the XLR as offering 11 hour range), but this remains to be confirmed.
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