Feb. 28 – The Alitalia Group is increasingly present in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, with 18 direct connections towards the area in 2013. Throughout the year, the number of flights grew by 6.5% and the number of passengers by 8%. Also, Alitalia won prizes in several countries for its performance, such as Hungary and Greece. Budapest Airport has awarded Alitalia the “Fastest Growing Network Carrier” for the capacity increase on the Rome-Budapest route with five weekly flights (+59% passengers, +14% market share in 2013 compared to 2012). Alitalia has also been honored with two awards from the Athens Airport during the 14th Airline Marketing Workshop. The company received an award in the category “Best of the Top10 Airlines, overall fastest growing airline” and another award in the category ” Fastest Growing Airline Award for geographical region” that rewards airlines with the most rapid growth of passengers for Western Europe. In 2013, Alitalia increased passenger traffic on flights to and from Athens by 19.5%.