Greek regional airline Sky Express is gearing up for a major expansion in passenger traffic as it moves away from public service obligation (PSO) routes to a normal commercial business model.
The small carrier has expanded from its original base at Heraklion, Crete, to two additional hubs at Athens and Thessaloniki.
In 2015, it carried just 85,000 passengers between the Greek mainland and the country’s many islands, on PSO routes that equate to the US Essential Air Service program.
In 2016, its move to a commercial operating model resulted in a doubling of passengers carried to around 170,000; this year it anticipates the latter figure roughly tripling to 500,000 travelers.
The company operates five ATR 42s turboprops—a mix of -300 and -500 models—plus a single Jetstream 41. Two further ATRs—another ATR 42-500 plus the airline’s first ATR 72-500—have been bought and are scheduled to arrive in the next few weeks. These will replace one of the older ATR 42s and the Jetstream.
Sky Express operates to 30 destinations within Greece; in 2016 it introduced an “island hopping” timetable that is designed to allow tourists or business travelers to visit a destination and return in the same day. This is achievable because of the very short nature of many sectors in the island groups: flights of less than 30 minutes are not uncommon.
Greece as a whole—and the airline in particular—are expecting a surge in tourism this summer as continuing uneasiness about political unrest and terrorism in nearby Turkey frightens off travelers, Sky Express corporate communications manager Harry Botsaris told ATW on the sidelines of the European Regions Airline Association annual conference in Copenhagen.
“North Africa is also out of the picture at the moment [because of political unrest] and all the indications are that Greece will have a new record number of tourists this year.
“All our flights to Santorini are already full for July and August, for example,” he said.
Further growth is anticipated through agreements with international carriers. An interline agreement was signed with Berlin-based Germania in early 2017, with up to three more such arrangements with as-yet unidentified carriers in the pipeline.
While expansion into international routes remains a possibility, “We’ll continue to focus within Greece for at least the next couple of years.” The Greek economy continues to be depressed, but Sky Express hopes it will be at least stable in 2016.
Growth investment affected the airline’s financial performance last year, but it expects to be profitable in 2017, Botsaris said.