HERAKLION IS THE STARTING POINT OF OUR DYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT

The trust of our homeland reinforces our dynamic route

In the scope of an event addressed to eastern Crete that took place on Thursday, May 11 at the I RESORT Beach Hotel & Spa in Stalis, SKY express celebrated together with partners from the travel and hotel industry, officials, representatives of the public sector, bodies of the city, as well as representatives of the local Media, its uninterrupted, stable and dynamic presence throughout the year in Heraklion.

The event was graced with the presence of, among others, the very Reverend Archimandrite Agathangelos Giannarakis, representative of His Eminence Metropolitan Βishop of Arkalachori Mr. Andreas, the Regional Governor of Crete, Mr. Stavros Arnaoutakis, the Mayor of Hersonissos, Mr. Yiannis Segos, the Mayor of Sitia, Mr. George Zervakis, and the Deputy Mayor of Heraklion, Mrs. Papadaki- Skalidi Rena.

With Heraklion being its large and strategic base, SKY express connects Crete with an extensive network of very important European cities and creates conditions for the development and exploitation of the tourist product of the whole island and local entrepreneurship.

At the same time, SKY express with its continuous operations, offers the people of Heraklion more choices with new connections, more routes and quality services, contributing at the same time to healthy competition and the creation of more competitive fares.

The importance of the city of Heraklion is great for SKY express and for this reason it has invested, among other things, in the human capital of the area. The IOGR Group, to which SKY express belongs, employs more than 2,600 employees in the local community, who live permanently in the city and work in the field of tourism, logistics, real estate, but also as cabin crew members, flight deck crew members and ground handling personnel.

It is worth noting that, for the summer of 2023, the number of SKY express aircraft permanently based in Heraklion now amounts to 5, enhancing the connectivity of Crete and serving an extensive network of 20 international destinations in 7 countries - Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Romania and Poland.

During the event, SKY express presented the successes and key figures achieved in 2022, following a successful course, which creates value for the place and its people.

2022 has been a year of organic growth for SKY express throughout its network:

• Total flights in 2022 were up by almost 50% coming to more than 49,000, covering 34 domestic and 24 international destinations.
• Passengers in 2022 almost tripled up to 3,500,000, reflecting the introduction of two AIRBUS A320neo into the fleet.
• In 2022, the company's total estimated revenue more than tripled accounting to €262 million, driven by higher growth in international flights.
• Average load factor improved by 20 percentage points during 2022, demonstrating the dynamic of the company's commercial proposal, its operational efficiency, but also contributing to the return of tourist traffic close to 2019 levels.
• SKY express emerged as the European company with the largest increase of flight work for 2022 compared to 2019 according to Eurocontrol.
• It is the only Greek company which became by Google an international case study for the use of the most advanced tools (travel insights) to achieve targeted and personalized communication to prospective travelers internationally, in the most friendly and direct way. The result of this project ranked SKY express among the top three European airlines that increased their online traffic compared to 2019.

With SKY express Heraklion has its own network

Strategic partnerships with leading European travel organizations & direct connection of Europe with Heraklion

Heraklion has its own connection with important cities of the country, such as Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Volos, and Karpathos, as well as with 20 cities in Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Romania and Poland.

2022 was an extremely important year for Heraklion as SKY express:

• Operated 5.260 flights
• Carried 595.000 passengers
• Offered 834.0000 seats

Thanks to the interline agreements of SKY express, with international top airlines passengers from Europe, Australia, America, Asia and the Middle East have the opportunity to fly directly to and from Athens International Airport "El. Venizelos" and easily continue their trip to Crete and Heraklion.

This year, SKY express gives the opportunity to more than 720,000 visitors from abroad to experience the Cretan hospitality and at the same time contributes to the further establishment of the Cretan brand name.

Especially for Heraklion, the dynamic course of SKY express is reflected in the 2023 data, as:

• It is expected to carry to Heraklion more than 720.000 passengers, recording an increase of 21% compared to 2022
• This year's offered seats amount to 876,000, an increase of 5% compared to 2022
• Flights will exceed 5,420, an increase of 3% compared to 2022

Following a very successful year, SKY express' excellent business performance was rewarded by the biggest travel organizations abroad, with which it either renewed and expanded existing partnerships or inaugurated new ones, creating opportunities for even greater development of its network and greater interconnectivity of Heraklion. Indicatively, these partnerships concern the European Groups Sunweb, FTI, HELIADES, GRECOS and TEZ.

Analytically:

FRANCE

• 108,000 seats offered in Paris, Nantes, Lyon, Lille and Marseille

GERMANY

• 21,000 seats in Munich and Weeze

BELGIUM

• 29,000 places on offer in Brussels

DENMARK

• 26,000 seats offered in Copenhagen and Billund

THE NETHERLANDS

• 13,000 seats in Amsterdam

POLAND

• 25,000 seats in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Rzeszow

ROMANIA

• 42,000 seats offered in Bucharest, Timisoara, Targu Mures, Cluj, Iasi, Sibiu

As Mr. Gerasimos Skaltsas, Chief Commercial Officer of SKY express stated: “SKY express has created for the passenger public of Heraklion with really competitive prices a quality, modern travel experience tailored to their needs. At the same time, having as our base the company's starting point in Heraklion, we further strengthened the connection of Crete with Europe for the benefit of the people, the place, our partners, but also the professionals of the tourist sector as a whole . We remain committed to continue traveling together to and from Heraklion, conquering even more goals, always empowered by our roots.”