Greek carrier Aegean Airlines' plan to renew its fleet will not affect future dividend policy, its vice-chairman told analysts during a conference call on Friday.
The country's largest carrier plans to renew its fleet of mostly Airbus narrow body jets and is currently evaluating the new generation Airbus A320neo family and Boeing's 737MAX.
"We won't need to change our dividend policy in the next years because of the commitment to renew our fleet," Vice-Chairman Eftyhis Vassilakis said.
Aegean, a member of the Star Alliance airline group, increased its 2017 dividend per share to 0.55 euros from a payout of 0.40 euros a year earlier after growing full-year net earnings by 87 percent last year.
The airline flew a total of 13.2 million passengers, up 6 percent on the previous year, with passengers on international flights up 9 percent year-on-year.
Vassilakis said the new aircraft would be predominantly financed via leasing instead of the company opting for outright ownership. The emphasis will be to reduce maintenance costs.
"The main element of cost we want to rein in is maintenance cost, particularly engine costs," he said.
Aegean will decide on the aircraft supplier in the coming weeks. Most of its current leases need to be replaced between 2019 and 2023.
"The main upfront investment, the pre-delivery payment, will be partially funded by our own cash and the rest from banks." Vassilakis said. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos Editing by Karolina Tagaris and Elaine Hardcastle)