Greek Government to help Aegean
 

Today's Kathimerini publishes an article suggesting that the Greek Government is planning to help Aegean with 120 mil. € and, in addition, is initiating a share capital increase of 60 mil. €. Unfortunately I could not find any additional info in this matter searching the internet, so consider this a rumour only for the time being.

It cannot be just a rumour considering the cash burning ratio they have during this second wave of the pandemic, with an upsurge in demand not in sight for the time being.

And it may not be too much of a coincidence that this coincides with Aegean relaxing their stance on refunds; They no longer push (very hard) to accept a voucher rather than a refund; and timelines for getting refunds processed seem to have been reduced to only a few weeks - rather than the 'infinite' waiting time that they were using previously to discourage pax from even requesting a refund.

Here's a shortened version of the original article in today's Kathimerini.

Eu can not say anything against that, aftrer Lufthansa, Klm, Airfrance, Lot.....etc billions.....

That explains the drop in share price whilst IAG is flying high

I shared a similar conversation with a fellow passenger on the LHR-ATH route last month. He was interested in which airlines I thought might survive the pandemic, and which would fall by the wayside.

My view then, and now, is that the Greek government cannot afford for A3 to fail - its fortunes are too intertwined with the tourist industry (18% of GBP, 10% of employment - massive by anyone's standards) and it's probably one of the few airlines with sufficient fleet size in the longer term to support the subsidised internal routes given the acquisition of OA.

So I'd be amazed if there isn't some sort of state help advanced in this situation, and equally difficult to see how the EU could refuse that happening given - as powergean has highlighted - many other national governments have had to do the same for their own primary airlines.

I'd regard this as very good news for A3 - any government, even Greece's with its relatively poor historical credit rating, is going to be regarded as cast iron in terms of a loan guarantee compared to any airline at this moment in time, so this should give confidence to other lenders should A3 seek multiple funding routes.

I think also, that bunkrupt is not between the options for Aegean and government aswell. Owners giving also 60 m . In danger of bankrupt owners woud escape with ther money, not paying 60 m......

Even without the tourism element, how could they possibly not intervene, considering most other countries have already bailed out their airlines. Aegean was doing very well before the dreaded virus arrived. Now, if it had been a basket case airline like Alitalia, I would quite understand why they would be reluctant to keep throwing taxpayers' money into a hole.

Officially confirmed I just got an email from investor relations.

As an A3*G with a large six figure balance of miles, I had assumed my miles would be safe with them for the very reason that I expected the Greek government would provide Aegean enough assistance at this time to do what the airline can do going forward too as A3 was no basket case during more normal times.

Confirmed since yesterday, from the greek tv:-))

,, I had assumed" Why? Greek government just giving 120 m. For the moment is enough for Aegean.

Indeed this is an exceptional period and thus cannot be compared to OA bailout days. Also A3 is under normal circumstances a very profitable company and adds substantial income to the tourist industry in Greece and by default the Greek state. There is no way they could refuse to assist.

While there has been rumor over the last number of days on TV and other media it was indeed only made official today when A3 announced it to the Greek stock exchange and investors.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Kifissia, 23 December 2020

Aegean Airlines S.A. (AEGEAN or the Company) hereby announces that, following a relevant notification of the Hellenic Republic, the European Commission has approved today state aid in the form of a direct grant in favor of Aegean of €120m to compensate the airline for damages suffered due to travel restrictions implemented in the EU to contain the spread of the coronavirus over the March 23 to June 30 period. The measure, which was assessed by the Commission under Article 107(2) (b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), covers part of damage suffered during the said period. The measure is part of an overall agreement with the Hellenic Republic (HR). Specifically, the grant approved by the Commission is conditioned upon the airline successfully effecting a private investor share capital increase of €60m. Additionally, the HR shall receive free warrants (without consideration), with a strike price equal to the price that investors shall be offered new shares upon the capital increase. Warrants will be exercisable any time during the period between 2 to 5 years after the disbursement of the support by the Greek state so as for the Greek State to benefit from any future upside in the share value of the Company. Warrants received by the HR would have rights for the acquisition of shares representing 11.5% of the Company’s common shares post share capital increase. The state support was agreed after taking into consideration the grave consequences caused by the coronavirus to the airline sector as well as Aegean’s substantial contribution to Greece’s tourism, overall economy and direct public revenues. Following today’s approval by the European Commission, the Company plans to undertake all necessary corporate actions and submissions to the Capital Market Commission in the upcoming period, with the aim being to complete all necessary procedures within the first three to four months of 2021.

https://en.aegeanair.com:443/-/media/aboutaegean/ir/ir_announcements/2020/announcement-ec-decision_en.pdf