Olympic Airlines

Olympic Airlines

File:Olympic Logo1.png
IATA ICAO Callsign OA OAL OLYMPIC
Founded	6 April 1957
Ceased operations	29 September 2009
Hubs	Athens International Airport
Focus cities	Thessaloniki International Airport, "Macedonia"
Frequent-flyer program	Icarus Frequent Flyer Program
Fleet size	43
Destinations	50
Parent company	Olympic Airways S.A.: Macedonian Airlines, Olympic Aviation
Headquarters	Athens, Greece
Key people	Pyrros D. Papadimitriou (Chairman - CEO)
Website	www.olympicairlines.com

Olympic Airlines (Greek: Ολυμπιακές Αερογραμμές, Olympiakés Aerogrammés - OA) was the flag carrier airline of Greece, based in Athens. It operated services to 37 domestic destinations and to 32 destinations world-wide. Its main base was at Athens International Airport, with hubs at Thessaloniki International Airport, "Macedonia" and Rhodes International Airport, "Diagoras". By December 2007, the airline employed about 8,500 staff.

Olympic Airlines was also accredited by IATA with the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) for its safety practices.

On March 6, 2009, the Greek State announced it had reached an agreement to sell the Flight operations, Ground Handling operations and Technical Base of the Group to Marfin Investment Group, the largest Greek investment fund, thus ending a 35-year period of state ownership.

On 29 September 2009 Olympic Airlines ceased all of its operations and most of its flights. Olympic Airlines will continue to be responsible for some flights to greek islands designated as public service as well as some flights to destinations outside the European Union (Cairo, Alexandria, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Belgrade) until the Greek State conducts a public tender for those flights. Nevertheless, since Olympic Airlines has declared bankruptcy on 29 September and ceased all operations, all those flights will be flown by its successor Olympic Air.

History

The first logo of Olympic, in 1957.

The origin of Olympic Airways was in 1930, when the first predecessor airline was established. The airline was called Icarus but after just a few months went bankrupt due to financial problems and limited Greek interest in air transport. G.C.A.T./Ε.Ε.Ε.Σ. (Greek Company for Air Transport/Ελληνική Εταιρεία Εναέριων Συγκοινωνιών) took its place. At the same time, in 1935, a second airline was created, the privately owned T.A.E. (Technical and Aeronautical Exploitations/Τεχνικαί Αεροπορικαί Εκμεταλλεύσεις). Soon after the World War II, in 1947, three airlines were based in Greece: T.A.E., G.A.T./ΕΛΛ.Α.Σ. (Greek Air Transport/Ελληνικαί Αεροπορικαί Συγκοινωνίαι) and Hellenic Airlines/Α.Μ.Ε. (Αεροπορικαί Μεταφοραί Ελλάδος).

Onassis era

The former Olympic Airways logo.

In 1951, the poor financial state of all three airlines led to a decision by the Greek state to merge them into one, TAE Greek National Airlines. The new airline faced serious financial problems so the government closed it down in 1955. There was no interest in buying the airline so the Hellenic State bought the company back. In July 1956, the Hellenic State reached an agreement with Greek shipping-magnate Aristotle Onassis to sell the company to Onassis. The company flew under the T.A.E. name until the end of the year and for the first few months of 1957. Then, on 6 April 1957, Olympic Airways (Ολυμπιακή Αεροπορία/Olympiaki Aeroporia) was born.

The new company developed rapidly. In 1960, Olympic's first jet aircraft, the de Havilland Comet 4B, entered service. At the same time, Olympic andBEA of the U.K. agreed to create the first codeshare flights. Later on, the companies expanded their cooperation. When Hellenic crews had to spend their night in London, British crews would fly the Greek Comets to BEA destinations, and the same with Greek crews and British Comets. On all BEA and OA Comets, there would be a "BEA-OLYMPIC" sign. In 1962 Olympic set a record, flying a Comet 4B from London to Athens in 2 hours and 51 minutes.

In 1965, Olympic placed an order for new Boeing 707-320 jets; it received the first, bearing the name "City of Athens", in 1966. Olympic's first Boeing 707 service was also the inauguration of a non-stop route connecting Athens and New York City (JFK Airport). In 1968, Olympic began serving Africa, with a twice-weekly round-trip linking Athens with Nairobi and Johannesburg. In the same year, OA received the first of a fleet of Boeing 727-200 jet aircraft. A new Athens-Montreal-Chicago service commenced in 1969. Also in 1969, the airline phased out its Comet 4Bs.

In 1971, OA purchased new NAMC YS-11 twin-turboprop aircraft to begin replacing the ageing Douglas DC-3 and Douglas DC-6 piston-engined types that until then were still in use throughout the company's domestic network. In that year, too, it created a subsidiary airline, Olympic Aviation/Ολυμπιακή Αεροπλοϊα, to serve the Greek islands more efficiently. In 1972, Olympic turned to the important Greece-Australia market, beginning Boeing 707-320 operations between Athens and Sydney twice a week via Bangkok and Singapore.

Olympic then acquired seven Boeing 720-051B aircraft, a medium-range derivative of the Boeing 707, from Northwest Airlines of the U.S.A. The airline also entered the wide-body era by purchasing two new Boeing 747-200s. OA even showed interest in the BAC-Aerospatiale Concorde supersonic airliner, and, on January 5, 1973, a Concorde landed at Athens International Airport to give a demonstration.

Post-Onassis era

Boeing 737-400.

Airbus A340-300.

On 22 January 1973, an incident occurred that dramatically changed the future of OA. The death of Aristotle Onassis' son, Alexander, in a plane crash came as a shock to the Greek people and a new phase began for Olympic Airways. A few months later, Onassis sold all of the OA shares to the Greek state and died shortly after (in 1975). In 1976, under state management, OA purchased eleven Boeing 737-200 jet aircraft and created Olympic Catering, which served both OA and foreign airlines. In 1977, in a cost-cutting effort, OA shut down the Australia route, followed by the Canadian one in 1978, when OA also placed orders for four Airbus A300, plus four options.

In 1984, three more B747-200 aircraft were purchased from Singapore Airlines, and the Canada and Australia routes were reopened. A new Olympic Airways Cargo division was created, by converting the Boeing 707-320 "City of Lindos", but the plans were soon abandoned. In 1986, there were strikes at OA, and financial losses mounted.

The company has faced serious financial trouble since the 80s, mostly because of management problems. Greek politicians and their families travelled free on the airline or for token amounts. Greek governments also made Olympic carry the press with a 97% discount. Olympic AirTours (Ολυμπιακή Τουριστική) was created as a subsidiary of OA, which issues tickets not only for OA, but for other airlines as well. Very soon, Olympic AirTours was renamed Macedonian Airlines and reestablished as a charter flight company.

In 1990 a route to Tokyo via Bangkok was launched but Olympic was soon forced to shut it down, despite very high load factors (95%). Olympic purchased seven Boeing 737-400 aircraft in 1991, as well as the advanced version of the A300, the A300-600R. Due to the rising losses and debts, the government decided to formulate a restructuring program in which all debts were erased. This program, as well as all the plans that followed, failed. A few years later, in an attempt to make OA profitable, its management was given to the subsidiary of British Airways, Speedwing. The result was even larger debts and rising losses. In 1999, Olympic purchased four Airbus A340-313X aircraft, to replace the ageing B747-200.

Olympic Airways to Olympic Airlines

By December 2003, the Olympic Airways Group of Companies owned Olympic Airways (Ολυμπιακή Αεροπορία), Olympic Aviation (Ολυμπιακή Αεροπλοϊα), Macedonian Airlines (Mακεδονικές Αερογραμμές), Galileo Hellas (Γαλιλλαίος Ελλάς), Olympic Fuel Company (Ολυμπιακή Εταιρεία Καυσίμων), and Olympic Into-Plane Company. Olympic Catering had been sold a few months earlier. A company formed in the 80s called Olympic AirTours (Ολυμπιακή Τουριστική) had already been transformed into Macedonian Airlines.

Very soon the losses became excessive, so in 2003 the government restructured the Olympic Airways Group of Companies. The subsidiary, Macedonian Airlines S.A., was renamed Olympic Airlines S.A. and took over the flight operations of Olympic Airways, erasing at the same time all of the airline's debts. The remaining group companies, except for Olympic Aviation (Olympic Airways, Olympic Into-Plane Company, Olympic Fuel Company, Olympic Airways Handling and the Olympic Airways Technical Base), merged and formed a new company, called Olympic Airways - Services S.A.. In December 2004, the Greek government decided to privatize Olympic Airlines, but the sale process ended in failure as none of the buyers were eager to repay the Greek state the almost 700 million euro in state aid declared illegal by the European Commission in December 2005.

In 2005, the Greek Government looked for potential buyers to privatize OA. In April of that year, a short list of potential buyers was submitted that included Aegean Airlines, German LCC DBA and a Greek-American consortium called Olympic Investors. Shortly afterwards Aegean Airlines pulled out, followed by DBA. In September 2005, the Greek government signed a non-binding agreement with Olympic Investors to buy the airline. In an interview, Olympic Investors stated that they were backed by York Capital with 6.5 billion Dollars and assured that OA's workers would not lose their jobs. They stated that OA should continue to operate as an integrated company and that they were not interested in buying just parts of OA. By the end of the year, the offer fell through because the huge fine imposed on the airline by the European Commission had not been dealt with.

Airbus A300B4-600R

File:Nk 096.jpg

ATR 72-202.

According to Greek media, the government planned to relaunch the company in late 2006. The code name for the project was "Pantheon Airways". In June 2006, Greek media reported that "Sabre Aviation Consulting Services" was contracted by the Greek government to find investors, and would develop a business plan for an airline to replace Olympic Airlines, aiming to start operating in autumn 2006. Under this plan the government would be a minority shareholder of the new carrier, which would be run as a private airline. The planned re-launch date passed without anything happening, and the plan was temporarily frozen.

In 2006 O.A. was thrown a life line, when the courts ordered Greece to repay them almost 564 million euro owed to the airline. The money was owed to O.A. from legally subsidized routes to Greek islands and costs of the relocation to the new airport. The money would be used to pay back part of the State aid declared illegal by the European Commission in December 2005. Olympic Airlines re-designed their website to introduce the e-ticket service, launched on July 31 2007, in response to the surge of online booking and online check-ins. The e-ticket service introduction by EDS meant Olympic abolished their old "Hermes" booking system, which had served the company for more than two decades. As of November 2007, the e-ticket service is available on all European and International routes, and on 19 of the airline's 37 domestic routes.

On September 12, 2007, the Luxembourg-based EU court ruled that Olympic should repay a reduced amount of money than the one the EU Commission had ordered. This amount included unpaid taxes on fuel and spare parts, as well as unpaid fees to Athens International Airport. The new amount owed by Olympic was €130 million, as compared with the original €160 million. On that same day Olympic Investors, the Greek-American consortium that was interested in buying Olympic in 2005, stated re-newed interest in buying the airline.

In November 2007, Irish airline Ryanair filed a suit with the European Commission, saying it had not looked into its claims that Olympic had not paid back its debt. On December 1, 2007 transport minister Kostas Hatzidakis announced that the entire Olympic Airways Group debts amounted to 2 billion euro, and that the airline in its present form and size would cease existing in 2008. This was deemed to be the only way for the European Commission to write off the company's debts to the Greek public sector. He stated that Athens was under more pressure to recover the money Olympic owed, because of the Ryanair lawsuit.

Despite all predictions, traffic for Olympic in 2007 increased, carrying a total of 5,977,104 passengers (3,115,521 in domestic and 2,681,583 in international flights) as opposed to approximately 5,500,000 passengers in 2006. It is estimated that OA earned approximately 780 million euro in 2007, 500 of which came from international flights. However, in 2008 due to lack of aircraft Olympic Airlines has cancelled or merged a significant number of flights, about 6,000 according to its own union (as of August 26, 2008). Olympic Airlines officials have declared that this is not the major problem since "after all the income reduction is only 4-5 million euros compared to the initial budget plan".

Olympic Airlines to Olympic Air

Main article: Olympic Air

On March 6, 2009, Development Minister Kostis Hatzidakis announced the sale of the flight operations and the technical base companies to MIG. As a result, after 35 years of state control and 10 years of failed sale attempts, Olympic will once again become a private corporation. The new owners will secure approximately 5000 of the 8500 jobs of the Group.

On September 28, 2009, Olympic Airlines ceased to fly to most of its 69 destinations, maintaining flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut, Cairo and all public service obligation routes within Greece, until the Ministry for Transport and Communications redistributes the routes in late November, when Olympic Airlines will enter liquidation. The last Olympic Airlines flight was flight 424 from Toronto-Canada, via Montreal landed at 11:10 on September 29 2009 at the Athens International Airport. Olympic Air will take over the rest of the operations on September 29 2009 and its first flight will be on the 1st of October 2009 at 06:20 leaving the Athens International Airport and heading to Thessaloniki-Greece.

All passengers with Olympic Airlines tickets will be able to fly on any other airline, including Olympic Air, at no extra charge.

Many destinations are no more served by the new Olympic, and the 69 employees of Olympic Airlines in Germany, where the new company does not fly, don't know what happens in future with their jobs..

Destinations

Main article: Olympic Airlines destinations

Olympic Airlines flew to 37 domestic and 32 international destinations throughout 23 countries.

Fleet

Current

ATR 42-320

Airbus A340-300

The Olympic Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at 1 August 2009):

Olympic Airlines Fleet

Aircraft	In Service	Orders	Options	Passengers	Routes Haul	Notes
Airbus A320-200	3	0	0	162 168 180	Europe Short-Medium haul	1 operated by Air Comet 2 operated by Hellas Jet
Airbus A340-300X	4	0	0	295	London, North America, Paris, South Africa Medium-Long haul	These belong to the Ministry of Finance and National Economy and were leased to Olympic.
ATR 42-320	7	0	0	50	Domestic, Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey Short haul
ATR 72-202	7	0	0	68	Domestic, Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey Short haul
Boeing 737-300	3	0	0	136	Egypt, Europe, Cyprus, Middle East, Turkey Short-Medium haul	1 operated by Seagle Air
Boeing 737-400	13	0	0	150	Egypt, Europe, Cyprus, Middle East, Turkey Short-Medium haul	2 stored at WOE
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	1	0	0	160	Egypt, Europe, Cyprus, Middle East, Turkey Short-Medium haul	Operated by Sky Wings
Bombardier Dash 8-102	4	0	0	37	Domestic Short haul
Total	44	-	-

Former fleet

Olympic Airlines has previously operated the following fleet:

Olympic Airlines/Airways Retired Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers	Routes	Notes
Douglas DC-3	14	28	Short haul Domestic and Balkans	Previously flew with TAE Greek National Airlines)
Douglas DC-4	2		Short and medium haul Domestic and Europe
Douglas DC-6	13	66 (1958), 95 (1967)	Short and medium haul Domestic and Europe	3 were leased from U.A.T.
DeHavilland Comet 4B	6	147 (1966), 165 (1968)	Medium haul Europe, Middle East	2 leased from BEA (BEA-OLYMPIC)
Boeing 707-320	8	147 (1966), 165 (1968)	Long and medium haul Europe, North America, Africa, Australia
Boeing 717-200	3	105	Short and medium haul Greece and Europe	2 leased from Bavaria, 1 leased from Pembroke Capital (BOC)
Boeing 720-051B	7	160	Short and medium haul Domestic, Europe and Middle East
Boeing 727-30	2		Short and medium haul Domestic, Europe and Middle East	Leased from Boeing
Boeing 727-200	10	146	Short and medium haul Domestic, Europe and Middle East	1 leased from Safair
Boeing 737-200	15	123	Short and medium haul Greece and Europe	4 leased from Aviation Sales Company
Boeing 737-300	5	138	Short and medium haul Domestic, Europe and Middle East	5 leased from Hola Airlines, 1 leased from Boullioun Aviation
Boeing 737-400	5	150	Short and medium haul Domestic, Europe and Middle East	1 leased from Hola Airlines, 1 leased from Pembroke Capital, 1 leased from Oasis International Leasing, 1 leased from ILFC, 1 leased from GECAS
Boeing 747-100	1		Long haul North America, Africa, Australia, Asia, South America	Leased from GPA in 1986
Boeing 747-200	5	426	Long haul North America, Africa, Australia, Asia	1 leased from Air Atlanta for the 2004 Olympic Torch Relay (ARO)
Britten Norman BN2 Islander	15	9	Short haul Domestic and Island services	Leased
NAMC YS-11	10	64	Short haul Domestic and Island services	2 leased from NAMC
Dornier Do 228	9	18	Short haul Domestic and Island services	2 leased from Dornier
Shorts 330	6	30	Short haul Domestic and Island services
Shorts Skyvan	4	18	Short haul Domestic and Island services	2 leased
Airbus A300	13	260	Medium and Long haul High capacitly European and Doestic
Total	153

Naming of aircraft

Naming of the aircraft of Olympic Airways (and now Olympic Airlines) is as follows:

Olympic Aircraft Name

Aircraft	Category	Names
Airbus A300-600	Locations of Greece	Athina/Αθήνα, Makedonia/Μακεδονία, Creta/Κρήτη
Airbus A300-B4	Heroes of the Trojan War	Nestor/Νέστωρ, Telemachus/Τηλέμαχος, Odysseus/Οδυσσεύς, Achilleus/Αχιλλεύς, Neoptolemus/Νεοπτόλεμος, Peleus/Πηλεύς, Diomedes/Διομήδης, Ajax/Αίας, Idomeneus/Ιδομενεύς
Airbus A340	Historic Locations of Ancient Greece	Delphi/Δελφοί, Olympia/Ολυμπία, Marathon/Μαραθών, Epidaurus/Επίδαυρος
ATR 42	Philosophers of Greece	Plato/Πλάτων, Socrates/Σωκράτης, Aristotles, Pythagoras
ATR 72	Scientists of Ancient Greece	Thales, Hippocrates, Demokritus, Homer, Herodotus, Archimedes
Boeing 707	City-States of Ancient Greece	Athens (Πόλις των Αθηνών), Lindos (Πόλις της Λίνδου), Thebes (Πόλις των Θηβών), Pella, Mycenae, Corinth, Knossos, Sparta
Boeing 720	Rivers of Greece	Axios River, Strimon River, Acheloos River, Pinios River, Evros River, Aliakmon River, Nestos River
Boeing 717	Constellations	Iridanos/Ηριδανός, Kassiopi, Andromeda
Boeing 727	Mountains of Greece	Mount Olympus/Όρος Όλυμπος, Mount Parnassus/Όρος Παρνασσός, Mount Menalon, Mount Vermion, Mount Dirfis, Mount Pindos, Mount Helicon, Mount Athos, Mount Taygetus
Boeing 737-200	Ancient Gods and Heroes:	Hercules, Apollo, Hermes, Hephaestus, Dionysos, Poseidon, Phoebus, Triton, Proteus, Nereus, Atlas
Boeing 737-400	Cities of Macedonia	Vergina, Olynthos, Philippi, Stagira, Dion, Amphipoli, Pella
Boeing 747	"Olympic Aircraft"	Olympic Zeus/Ολύμπιος Ζεύς, Olympic Eagle/Ολύμπιος Αετός, Olympic Spirit/Ολύμπιο Πνεύμα, Olympic Flame/Ολύμπια Φλόγα, Olympic Peace/Ολυμπιακή Εκεχειρία
DeHavilland Comet 4B	Members of the Greek Royal Family	Princess Sophia, Queen Sophia, Queen Frederica, Queen Olga
Dornier 228	Islands of Greece	Leros, Skyros, Kasos, Astypalea, Amorgos, Kythira, Karpathos
Douglas DC-6	Islands of Greece	Rhodes, Corfu, Crete, Lesvos, Chios, Limnos, Samos, Kos
NAMC YS-11	Islands of Greece	Kephalonia, Ithaca, Samothraki, Zakynthos, Delos, Andros, Kalymnos, Milos
Shorts 330	Islands of Greece	Patmos, Kastelorizo, Paros, Naxos, Milos, Tinos
Shorts Skyvan	Islands of Greece	Mykonos, Skiathos
Islander	Islands of Greece	Kythira/Νήσος Κύθηρα, Karpathos/Νήσος Κάρπαθος
Aerospatiale Super Frelon		Hermes/Ερμής

Aircraft registrations

The registration of all Olympic aircraft is a two-letter Greek prefix SX- and three more letters. The first of the three letters shows the number of engines (B: Two engines, C: Three engines, D: Four engines). The second letter shows the type of the aircraft (A: Douglas DC-3, etc.) and the third is the number of the aircraft in letters. Some exceptions are the Boeing 747 (where the first two letters are the IATA designator of Olympic: OA) and the Learjet 25 SX-ASO (which stands for Onassis' initials: Aristotle Socrates Onassis)

Codeshare agreements

Olympic Airlines had the following codeshare agreements:

• Cyprus Airways connects Athens and Thessaloniki with Larnaca and Athens with Paphos.
• Aerosvit Airlines connects Athens with Kiev and Odessa.
• Air Malta connects Athens with Malta.
• Czech Airlines connects Athens and Thessaloniki with Prague.
• Egypt Air connects Athens with Alexandria.
• Kuwait Airways connects Athens with Kuwait.

Corporate design

Logo

The first logo of the airline was a white eagle, bearing a resemblance to a propeller, featuring five rings and the name Olympic. Just two years after the first flight, Onassis asked his associates to design a new logo and the coloured rings were created. Onassis wanted to copy the five coloured rings of the Olympic emblem, but the International Olympic Committee claimed the rights to the emblem, so a new, six ring logo was introduced. The first five rings stand for the five continents, while the sixth stands for Greece. Colours used were yellow, red, blue and white. The new logo for Olympic air has been selected among three proposals by an online vote which was open until July 5, 2009 on oalogo.gr. All proposals were expected to keep the six circles and were called to modernize the look of the existing logo. The logo that was finally selected is a bevel version of the existing logo and font, with the only exception that green has replaced the light blue on some circles. Green along with blue is one of MIG's corporate colors (as seen on Marfin Egnatia bank's logo for example) and was thus also used per request by MIG on the new uniforms too.

Other

• The Olympic name came as a result of Onassis' passion for ancient Greece. Many of his companies carried the Olympic name such as Olympic Maritime. He followed the same naming pattern for his ships (with names such as "Olympic Legacy", "Olympic Palm", "Olympic Explorer", etc.)
• According to OA regulations, all male flight attendants must wear a black tie, thus paying tribute to the late Alexander Onassis.
• Uniforms for OA flight attendants were created by famous fashion designers. The first uniform was designed by Jean Desses in 1957, followed by uniforms designed by Coco Chanel (1966 - 1969), Pierre Cardin (1969 - 1971), Giannis Tseklenis (1971 - 1976), Roula Stathi (1976 - 1981), Billy Bo (1981 - 1987), Aspasia Gerel (1987 - 1992), Makis Tselios (1992 - 1998) and Artisti Italiani (1998 - present).

Incidents and accidents

• 29 October 1959: a Douglas Aircraft Company DC-3 crashed near Athens, Greece. All 15 passengers and all 3 crew members perished.
• 8 December 1969: a Douglas DC-6 crashed near Keratea, Athens, Greece. All 85 passengers and all 5 crew members were killed.
• 18 February 1972: an Olympic Aviation Learjet crashed off the coast of Monte Carlo. Both crew members were killed.
• 21 October 1972: a NAMC YS-11 crashed off the coast of Voula, Athens, Greece drowning 36 passengers and 1 crew member , while 16 passengers and 3 crew members were rescued.
• 23 November 1976: an NAMC YS-11 crashed near Kozani, Greece. All 46 passengers and 4 crew members perished.
• 3 August 1989: an Olympic Aviation Shorts 330 crashed near Samos Airport, Greece. All 31 passengers and 3 crew members were killed.
• 4 January 1998: a passenger on Olympic Airways Flight 417 died of an allergic reaction to cigarette smoke when a flight attendant, against policy, refused to change his seat. The airline banned all smoking from 15 April 2001.

External links

• Official 'Olympic Airlines' website
• Official 'Olympic Air' website
• Olympic Airways (Archive)