Following the offer submitted to the Hellenic Republic on 04/03/09, AEGEAN reiterates that the main initiative for its expressed interest on Olympic is the creation of a National Champion that would carry the name of Olympic. The new carrier, through the combination of the positive elements of both companies will be able to successfully and reliably compete with international carriers of significant size, thus creating significant advantages for the Greek consumer, the Greek tourism sector and the Greek economy. It is highlighted that international air traffic represents 85% of the total traffic of Greek airports.
In the case that Hellenic Republic accepts the offer, AEGEAN commitments with regards to the domestic market are as follows:
1. AEGEAN commits not to increase domestic fares until the end of 2010
2. AEGEAN commits to give up a significant share of domestic capacity (relative to the total share that Olympic and AEGEAN currently hold) in order to facilitate the growth of new Greek carriers that have entered the market. With regards to the handling activity, AEGEAN has not submitted an offer at this stage. Nevertheless, in the case that there is a need to undertake this activity, AEGEAN could imminently submit an offer that secures a reliable solution for this activity as well in cooperation with GOLDAIR - with which talks are currently taking place.
AEGEAN's involvement in the process aims at strengthening the negotiating power of Hellenic Republic, so as without any further delay and at a satisfactory price succeed on the privatization of Olympic, which is required for the healthy development of Greek air transport.