Aegean Airlines has announced it will begin operating a direct service between Manchester and Athens on Saturdays and Mondays from May 25th 2013. The bi-weekly service will provide passengers with flexible and affordable direct access to Athens, as well as making it easy for passengers to continue their journey from Athens to any of the Greek islands.

From December Singapore Airlines customers will be able to fly to the Greek cities of Athens and Thessaloniki through a code-share agreement with Star Alliance partner Aegean Airlines. Under the agreement, SIA will add its ‘SQ’ code to Aegean-operated flights serving the Greek capital Athens from Frankfurt, London, Milan and Munich, as well as to flights serving Greece’s second-largest city Thessaloniki from Frankfurt and Munich.

Olympic Holidays has strengthened its summer 2012 offering in signing a new deal with Aegean Airlines to provide flights on key routes this summer.

Star Alliance members, Aegean Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines are today entering into a code-share agreement that offers Scandinavian travelers more and quicker transfer points across Europe. In addition, the code share will allow Aegean Airlines to offer Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm, as new destinations in its International Network.

At a ceremony held in Athens today, Aegean Airlines was accepted into the Star Alliance network as the 28th member.

Greece’s Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air have agreed to merge in an effort to reduce price competition in the domestic market and offer a more robust international challenge.