Greece’s largest carrier Aegean Airlines said on Thursday its passenger numbers rose 12 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2017, mostly on international routes where traffic rose by 16 percent.

Aegean, a member of the Star Alliance airline group, increased its load factor to 81.2 percent, from 76.8 percent in the same period in 2017. The airline said its passenger numbers totaled 2.36 million in the three-month period compared to 2.10 million in January-March last year.

The carrier is adding 11 new routes this year, including Basel in Switzerland, Malaga in Spain and Palermo, Turin and Bologna in Italy. Last month, Aegean picked Airbus for an order of 42 aircraft worth $5 billion (4 billion euros) to renew its fleet of single-aisle planes and add capacity for future expansion. [Reuters]

This article was initially published by ekathimerini.com