Great news that it looks like this service is continuing.Any idea of timings,is it similar to this year,ie evening flights??
Also I wonder why operating days have changed??
 
Arrives BHX at 21:30 leaving again at 22:15 so similar to this year.

Not sure why the days have changed but at least they changed both so 10 nights is still an option.
 
More Capacity to Athens From Birmingham Airport


Aegean Airlines, Greece’s largest carrier and a Star Alliance member, has announced that it will increase capacity between Birmingham and Athens in summer 2015 by 8,500 seats, following the successful launch of the route in June this year.

Operating each Wednesday and Sunday between April and October 2015, the Birmingham-Athens service not only provides passengers with a direct link to the Greek capital but also onward connectivity throughout the Greek Islands and mainland Greece on Aegean’s extensive network.

The flights will operate using 168-seat Airbus A320 aircraft, offering a dual class configuration and full onboard service, which includes complimentary food and drink.

William Pearson, Aviation Development Director at Birmingham Airport, said: “It’s no surprise that this Athens service from Birmingham has been such a success as it provides direct access to Athens and choice across the Greek Islands, which are hugely popular with British tourists.

“We are therefore delighted that the team at Aegean has not only recognized the demand in the Midlands region to recommence services in April but also increase capacity over the summer months from Birmingham.”

Athens is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum; it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy. Today, a cosmopolitan metropolis, modern Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece.

Flights are available to book now via www.aegeanair.com or through travel agents, with a lead in round trip fare in April and May 2015 costing £113.38 including taxes.

Business class passengers and Gold card members have business lounge access at Birmingham Airport and Gold card members are also eligible for extra baggage allowance.

http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/meta ... acity.aspx
 
This year, I decided to go Greek island hopping with my family. We decided to start off in Santorini, then onto Naxos and finally Mykonos, where we would fly home from.

Santorini is only accessible direct from BHX with IT airlines (TCX and TOM) and Mykonos not at all. So our choice was either to fly from London/Manchester, or to fly indirect from BHX. We chose to do the latter with Aegean, via their Athens hub.

With just a 45 minute changeover on both ends, the flights were extremely easy and efficient, and the service really took us by surprise. The cabin crew were attentive, representing impeccible Greek hospitality and care. The meals were delicious and the slimline seats very comfortable, offering excellent legroom. The flights were by far the best I've been on in short haul!

Both flights (BHX-ATH and ATH-BHX) were completely full, with a mix of British holidaymakers and Greeks visiting family or going back to university in Birmingham/surrounding areas. In fact, the return flight was upgraded to an A321 in place of the usual A320 (Aegean only have 8 A321s vs 35 A320s, so for BHX to be upgraded is pretty good!). Side note: the A321 we traveled on was SX-DGS, an ex-Monarch aircraft. (I was impressed to see that Aegean bother to renovate their interiors with their own seats and design, unlike Monarch who keep their aircraft interiors in the format of the previous operator...I travelled with them earlier this year on an ex-Vueling aircraft - the seats had information in Spanish!)

Looking on their website I can see that many of the remaining flights from BHX this season are completely sold out, or have just a few seats remaining which is excellent news. I am hopeful that S16 could see an increase to 3 x weekly service, and I'm confident we'll see the route go year round soon; A3 recently upgraded MAN-ATH to year round, and BHX is one of their few remaining seasonal services from ATH.

All in all a great experience, and it was so easy flying from my local airport. Plus I gained thousands of air miles added to my previous miles collected with other Star Alliance members - perfect!
 
Sounds like you had a great time and very good to hear that loads were healthy :smile:

Santorini is only accessible direct from BHX with IT airlines (TCX and TOM) and Mykonos not at all. So our choice was either to fly from London/Manchester, or to fly indirect from BHX. We chose to do the latter with Aegean, via their Athens hub.

This is the choice we need more local people to start making. More pax equal more flights and more connections can lead to a direct service :good:
 
Ray Finkle said:
Sounds like you had a great time and very good to hear that loads were healthy :smile:

Santorini is only accessible direct from BHX with IT airlines (TCX and TOM) and Mykonos not at all. So our choice was either to fly from London/Manchester, or to fly indirect from BHX. We chose to do the latter with Aegean, via their Athens hub.

This is the choice we need more local people to start making. More pax equal more flights and more connections can lead to a direct service :good:


Just to let you guys know i believe TCX now go to Mytilini which i believe is on the island of Lesbos so at least our greek island offering is getting better. And with our connection with Aegean via ATH, its loads better than a few years ago. Glad you had a good time.
 
Excellent holiday, thank you!

Yes, I was impressed to see that TCX started Mytilene flights.

Up until recently, I never considered connecting flights, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. But if people realised how hassle free the changeover was, perhaps more would fly from Birmingham - and as Ray said, this would also encourage direct routes to islands such as Mykonos.

I would without a doubt say that that BHX-ATH-JTR/JMK-ATH-BHX is easier than flying from London or Manchester and I will travel via hubs from BHX in the future where direct flights aren't available (assuming connection times are realistic of course!)
 
Amongst all the good news, it seems Aegean is one airline struggling at BHX.

Next summer has been scaled back to just 21 June to 27 sept, and rumours suggest it is unlikely to return for S17 if next summer doesn't deliver.

Shame, as Athens is one of the harder capitals to get on your departure boards, and though BHX did well to get it. Let's hope they can improve.
 
Word was that it was being dropped for this year so it's good that they're giving it another chance. The loads late June to early September were great with more A321's than last year. Either side of that though things didn't look good at all.
 
Or dear, that's a great shame that things aren't looking good.

It will be interesting to see if this is a general sign of the current times or whether this is purely a BHX problem. I know with all the financial problems, many people I know steered clear of Greece this summer, and when considering those situations, I would imagine the airline also be very risk averse..

interesting one to watch...
 
It looks like BHX is part of the issue, as MAN has re-gained it's 3rd weekly flight next summer, as opposed to the 2 weekly it ran this summer.
 
Below are the load factors for this year and as can be seen April to June were pretty abysmal, especially May when we have school holidays. July shows over 100% as several A321's were used, I don't know how many there were (and can't be bothered to look) so I've worked all loads out for an A320, which is what the flights are sold as anyway. I'd imagine Septembers loads will take a dip.

April 1613 60%
May 1702 56%
June 2041 67%
July 2 814 104%
August 2862 95%

This looks to be a highly seasonal route so the future really depends on whether Aegean are prepared to release an aircraft for a three month period to BHX, or whether they can make more money on a full season elsewhere.
 
I suspect that it may be the July and August loads that saved the route... if rumors had been circulating about them dropping the route then this may have been down to early bookings...

I suppose there is still time for them to change their mind but when you have a LF down to 56% you cant blame them. that said, id rather the airline reduce the season and keep around than drop the route all together!!!
 
Lets not forget folks that in the summer Greece was on the verge of collapse, so this would of put people off from travelling hence the low figures for May/June.

I wouldnt of travelled to Greece when all this was going on so i wouldnt put it all down to BHX. Lots of things have in happened in Greece and now you have all these migrants landing on there shores.

Aegean at MAN have been around much longer and is more established than BHX.

They must see something in BHX as they are returning abeit a shorter season so we shall see. Gotta say dont see much advertisement for this route so the BHX team may need to do what they did for the Turkish Airlines route which was also at "risk" of being dropped just a few years ago and then it improved.

I have faith.
 
Aegean haven't been at MAN as long as you think BrumX, they only started in 2013.

They had 1 summer season in 2013, then came back in April 2014 with 3 weekly, went year round after the summer of 2014 with 2 weekly flights and have stayed at 2 weekly until they go back to3 weekly next summer.
 
User001 said:
Aegean haven't been at MAN as long as you think BrumX, they only started in 2013.

They had 1 summer season in 2013, then came back in April 2014 with 3 weekly, went year round after the summer of 2014 with 2 weekly flights and have stayed at 2 weekly until they go back to3 weekly next summer.


Sorry, thought they had been at MAN around 5/6 years. Must do my homework then :blush:
 

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