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Celebrating a milestone year – its 25th in business – Aegean Airlines It has seen strong growth since its inception in 1999 when it had just two aircraft and flew to just two destinations from Athens. Now flying to 47 countries and proud to promote lesser-known Greek destinations and local products, this Star Alliance member still serves undiscovered Greece as well as known Greece. Today, the airline continues to expand its horizons, recently ordering four A321neo LR aircraft that can cover distances of up to 7.5 hours, making the Persian Gulf, India and Central Africa accessible from Greece.

Airplane and road

We flew Business Class on an Airbus A320-200 from Manchester (MAN) to Athens (ATH), as well as a direct service from Athens to Manchester.

check-in

There is a generous baggage allowance of 2 x 32kg cases for hold, and a 13kg bag plus personal item on board. Given that we were only staying in Athens for 5 nights, the latter was more than enough for us, so we were able to check in online and go straight to the FastTrack route through security, without having to check any bags, although we did need to get a printed boarding pass. Called the desk.

Lounge access

From Manchester, AEGEAN flies out of Terminal 2, with Business Class passengers having access to the Escape Lounge.

There is a long bar (as well as a small one which was closed on our morning visit), plenty of cooked breakfast options as well as fruit, yogurt, pastries, tea/coffee etc.

Outside of Athens, AEGEAN’s primary base, there is a relatively new lounge (opened in 2022) that is noticeably more modern and more spacious. Again, we had an early flight and I think it wasn’t open when we arrived, so it was very quiet and felt very spacious.

There was a large island with muffins and pastries and facilities for hot drinks.

There is also a range of seating options – comfortable sofas as well as tables with more upright seating, more convenient for getting some work done.

There were also extensive additional food options – sandwiches, wraps, mini burgers, mini souvlaki and more – as well as cold drinks.

Recliners can be found overlooking the airport apron – perfect for those in need of rest if they face a delayed flight or a longer layover.

sitting

On each flight, there were four rows of business class seats on this service, with three seats on each side of the aisle. The three middle seats have a cabin separator, reserved as a central table, meaning a total of 16 business class seats. Along with this extra width, extra leg room is of course a major plus. The seats also recline about 4-5 inches, which is enough to get some shut-eye, and you really need it for short-haul flights.

In-flight entertainment

AEGEAN Portal offers access to free entertainment content via WiFi, including movies, news, documentaries, music, moving maps and a selection of games. There is a Free Stream WiFi option on board for business class passengers, offering speeds of up to 15Mbps. With your device flight-mode enabled, you simply connect via aegeanwifi.com or scan the QR code displayed on the back of the seat in front of you.

It’s only a short flight (less than four hours outbound), however, if you grab a book or pre-load the device with a movie or two, you can pass the time easily. The current issue of Inflight Magazine, Fly Smart Blue, which includes over 300 pages; Surprisingly, perhaps, there are a lot of advertisements, but still a good number of articles, and this edition includes details of new culinary projects in Athens, as well as in-depth pieces on Chios, Marseille, Vilnius, Andalusia, Rhodes and the South. All easily accessible via Chania – Aegean’s route network, of course.

food and drink

For our outbound flight, breakfast consisted of a fresh fruit platter with manouri cheese, plus a choice of a morning roll or croissant with butter and strawberry jam. There is also a choice of hot entrees by Executive Chef Lefteris Lazzaro of Omelet with smoked chicken, leek, mushrooms and thyme (pictured) or Omelette ‘Storgato’ with smoked salmon and spicy tomato sauce.

For our return, we had a selection of pastries.

There is also a regular drinks service, with a selection of drinks to choose from, including the local drinks of ouzo and tsipouro, plus eight different Greek wines to choose from (if it weren’t for the morning, I might have been tempted by one. would have gone!) .

The gastronomy team behind the AEGEAN Business Class experience includes some of Greece’s most distinguished executive chefs, including Christaferos Peskias and Alexandros Tsiantinis, Pastry Chef Stelios Parilaros and Master of Wine Konstantinos Lazarakis.

Price

Out of season, you can travel business class from Manchester to Athens and back for as little as €461.90 per person based on searches this coming January. In peak season, you can expect to pay more than €1,000 per person for a roundtrip business class fare.

Miles+Bonus – Aegean’s own frequent flyer program – rewards loyal customers with miles for flights and other activities. Members can redeem these miles for various benefits, such as free flights, upgrades and other services. The program is divided into three tiers: Blue, Silver and Gold.

Frequent fliers may also want to look into the Aegean Pass which allows passengers to create their own flight package and secure pricing for the whole year, with unlimited ticket changes. You can customize your AEGEAN Pass by choosing the route or group of routes that suit your needs, the flights you choose and the minimum number of days of flight departure. This can afford you additional unique benefits such as maximum Miles+Bonus award and tier miles for economy class flex fares with every flight booked.

Service and final thoughts

As expected, the cabin crew were friendly and professional.

Arrival in Athens was very efficient and made a real difference with how quickly we made it to the city centre. Business class passengers were able to get off very quickly by taxiing to the gate and instead of waiting for other passengers, only 16 of us were able to board a bus that took us straight to the airport building. This proved to be a major plus.

When we got to passport control there was no queue, so we were through customs and into the center of Athens in a few minutes.

Overall, flying business class with AEGEAN was an extremely enjoyable experience. The spacious seating and excellent lounge quality were the two main features that really stood out in the Athens. The quick and efficient arrival in Athens was also a big plus, saving us valuable time and allowing us to start our journey without delay.

Disclosure: Sponsored by Our Trip Aegean Airlines.