Aegean

Aegean may refer to:

See also

Aegean Airlines

Aegean Airlines S.A. (Greek: Αεροπορία Αιγαίου Ανώνυμη Αεροπορική Εταιρεία,Aeroporía Aigíou Anónime Etairía pronounced [aeropoˈria eˈʝeu]; LSE: 0OHY) is the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carried, by number of destinations served and by fleet size. A Star Alliance member since June 2010, it operates scheduled and charter services from Athens and Thessaloniki to other major Greek destinations as well as to a number of European destinations. Its main hubs are Athens International Airport in Athens, Thessaloniki International Airport in Thessaloniki and Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus. It also uses other Greek airports as bases, some of which are seasonal. It has its head office in Kifisia, a suburb of Athens. Although the airline is the largest airline in Greece, it is not a flag carrier.

On 21 October 2012, Aegean Airlines announced that it had struck a deal to acquire Olympic Air, and the buyout was approved by the European Commission a year later, on 9 October 2013. Both carriers continue to operate under separate brands. In addition, Aegean Airlines participated in the final stages of the tender for the privatization of Cyprus Airways, the national carrier of Cyprus. Following the bankruptcy of Cyprus Airways, Aegean Airways established a hub at Larnaca Airport, thus initiating scheduled flights to and from the island to various destinations and filling the service gap created by the services termination of Cyprus Airways.

Economy class

Economy class, also called coach class, steerage, or standard class, (colloquially: Cattle class), is the lowest travel class of seating in air travel, rail travel, and sometimes ferry or maritime travel. Historically, this travel class has been called tourist class on ocean liners and third class, or even fourth class, on railways. In some contexts or languages it is (half jokingly) referred to as "wood class" because seats and carriages in the cheapest class were literally made from wood in the 19th and early 20th century. Another common term (both in rail travel and aviation) is "coach class".

Marine

Travel classes originated from a distinction between "cabin class" and "steerage" on sailing vessels in the 18th century. Cabin class, for wealthier passengers included small cabins and a shared dining room while "steerage" provided open decks with bunks often near the tackle to operate the steering rudder, usually in converted cargo space on the "between decks" area where passengers from poorer backgrounds cooked their own meals.