Review: Aegean Airlines Business & Economy

Aegean airlines aircraft catered by Newrest catering at Athens Airport

Over the last 12 months, Aegean has been investing in new lounges and introduced a new business class service called Gastronomics. Economy class hasn’t changed but they’re still handing out delicious Greek-inspired dishes for free in economy class, which is a bit of rarity these days when flying around Europe.

THE MENU PRESENTATION

I visited Newrest the airline’s caterer in Athens in the summer of 2017 for the Inflight Food Trip documentary, here I was able to get a look and some of the menus that they created for Aegean.

Depending on where you are flying to/from Aegean will serve your meal on a tray or on shorter flights you will receive a boxed meal concept. In business class on international services, there’s always a tray service concept, but the meals will vary depending on flight duration.

ECONOMY CLASS

Domestic flights in Greece are short, sometimes as short as 35mins, so to keep it easy for the crew, a simplified service is in place. You’ll get a typically Greek snack/sweet product plus a choice of drinks.

Aegean Airlines economy class snack

International economy class offers a small snack box or meal tray service consisting of typically Greek traditional items. Local ingredients are used where possible with authentic Greek recipes, the meals on Aegean are excellent quality and generally quite good.

BUSINESS CLASS

For their international business class flights the airline works with three esteemed chefs from Greece to develop inflight menus; Lefteris Lazarou, Stelios Parliaros and Konstantinos Lazarakis.

Aegean airlines meal in business class: pancakes

These fluffy pancakes served on a flight between Athens and Madrid would have to be one of the better inflight breakfast experiences I’ve had in a while. The pancakes were served with Anthotyro Greek cheese with caramelised strawberries and popped with flavour.

Aegean airlines business class meal

On a flight from Stockholm to Athens, I selected the beef with tomato sauce and gnoccheti. The meal was served piping hot, the pasta wasn’t dry, and the beef was very tender.

Over the summer, I flew Aegean frequently, and I ended up having the same menu on two different flights. To avoid this, airlines rotate menus across various destinations. For example, menu one will run for six weeks between Athens and London/Frankfurt/Paris after that period it may move to other destinations. It avoids passengers inadvertently receiving the same meal.

Aegean airlines business class meal
gastronomics aegean inflight menu business class
aegean business class meal
Aegean airlines business class dessert

New inflight meals and menus on Aegean and simplified desserts on offer.

Here’s a look at the Aegean business class meals before the new concept.

LOUNGES

In December 2017 Aegean re-opened their lounge in Athens after completing renovations, the space is modern, provides more seating and enhanced food and drink offerings. It’s great to see Aegean providing some new options like freshly prepared salads, pressed juices and much more.

Aegean airlines lounge Athens airport
Aegean airlines lounge Athens airport juice
Fresh salads Aegean Airlines lounge food Athens airport

Aegean also opened up a non-Schengen lounge located at the A gates area of Athens airport. I visited this lounge a few times, and in the early mornings, it was quiet. There’s a fantastic Nespresso machine, the food options are similar to the other lounge, and there’s lots of seating too.

Aegean are fantastic ambassadors for Greece their inflight program reflects Greece perfectly, warm hospitality paired with Greek food products throughout your travel experience. It’s a lovely welcome home for those who are Greek, and a fantastic way for visitors to Greece to experience Greek hospitality before they touch down.

 

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