Olympic Airlines

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Olympic Airlines (Ολυμπιακές Αερογραμμές - OA) is the state-run flag carrier of Greece, employing about 1850 people. The company headquarters is in Athens.

Contents

1 History

1.1 The Start of Olympic
1.2 Olympic in the 1960s
1.3 Olympic in the 1970s
1.4 Olympic in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s
1.5 The Future of Olympic

2 O.A. Group of Companies (April 1957 - December 2003)
3 Incidents and accidents
4 Destinations
5 Fleet
6 Retired Aircraft
7 External links

History

The Start of Olympic

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Olympic Airlines was created in Greece in 1930. The airline was called Icarus but soon 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).

Boeing 737-400

In 1951, the poor financial state of all three airlines led to a decision by the Greek state to merge them into one, Hellenic National Airlines T.A.E. 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 an agreement was made between the Hellenic State and Greek shipping-magnate Aristotle Onassis to sell the company. The company flew under the name T.A.E. until the end of the year and for the first few months of 1957, when, on April 6th, 1957, Olympic Airways/Ολυμπιακή Αεροπορία was officially born.

Maria Callas leaving an Olympic Airways aircraft in Athens

Olympic in the 1960s

The new company developed rapidly. In 1960 the first jet aircraft of OA entered into service, the De Havilland Comet 4B. At the same time, Olympic and British airline BEA 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 1965, Olympic placed its first orders for the Boeing 707-300 jet aircraft. The first was delivered in 1966, bearing the name "City of Corinth". The nonstop route Athens - New York City (JFK Airport) was the first to be launched. In 1968, the first routes to Africa were launched and OA received the Boeing 727-200 jet aircraft. In 1969, OA launched a route to Canada and phased out the Comet 4Bs.

An old Olympic Airways logo

Olympic in the 1970s

In 1970, OA purchased the new NAMC YS-11 turboprop aircraft to replace the aging Douglas DC-3 and Douglas DC-6, used throughout the domestic network of the company. In 1971, Olympic Aviation/Ολυμπιακή Αεροπλοϊα was created, so that the Greek islands could be more efficiently served. In 1972 Greece was linked to Australia for the first time.

Olympic then purchased the Boeing 720-051B jet aircraft, a derivative of the Boeing 707, and the Boeing 747-200 OA was also interested in the supersonic aircraft BAC-Aerospatiale Concorde. On January 5th, 1973, a Concorde landed at Athens International Airport for a demonstration.

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 Greek people and marked the beginning of the end 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 the state management, OA purchased the 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 its first orders for the Airbus A300.

Olympic Airlines Boeing 737

Olympic in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s

In 1984, two 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 707-300 "City of Lindos", but the plans were soon abandoned. In 1986, the worst strikes in the history of OA occurred, 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 Tourist was created as a subsidiary of OA, which issues tickets not only for OA, but for other airlines as well.

In the mid-1980s a nonstop route to Tokyo was launched but soon shut down due to limited passenger interest and heavy losses. Olympic purchased Boeing 737-400 aircraft in 1993, 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 aging B747-200.

Olympic Airlines Airbus A340-300

Very soon the losses became excessive so in 2003 the government decided to restructure 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 Hellenic Government decided to privatise Olympic Airlines, but the sale process ended in failure as none of the buyers was eager to repay the Greek State the almost 500 million euro in State aid declared illegal by the European Commission in December 2005.

Olympic Airlines ATR-72

The Future of Olympic

According to Greek media, the government plans to relaunch the company in late 2006. The code name for the project is "Pantheon Airways". In June 2006, Greek media reported that "Sabre Aviation Consulting Services" was contracted by the Greek government to find investors and develop a business plan for an airline to replace Olympic Airlines, aiming to start operating in fall 2006. Under this plan the government will be a minority shareholder of the new carrier and it will be run as a private airline.

O.A. Group of Companies (April 1957 - December 2003)

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 Tourist (Ολυμπιακή Τουριστική) had already been transformed into Macedonian Airlines.

Olympic Airlines Airbus A300B4-600R

Incidents and accidents

October 29, 1959: An Olympic Airways Douglas Aircraft Company DC-3 crashed near Athens, Greece. All 18 passengers and crew (15 passengers and 3 crew members) perished
December 8, 1969: An Olympic Airways Douglas DC-6 crashed near Keratea, Athens, Greece. All 90 passengers and crew (85 passengers and 5 crew members) perished
February 18, 1972: An Olympic Aviation Learjet crashed off the coast of Monte Carlo. All 2 crew members were killed.
October 21, 1972: An Olympic Airways NIHON YS-11 crashed off the coast of Voula, Athens, Greece. 37 passengers and crew (36 passengers and 1 crew member) drowned, while 16 passengers and 3 crew members were rescued.
November 23, 1976: An Olympic Airways NIHON YS-11 crashed near Kozani, Greece. All 46 passengers and 4 crew members perished.
August 3, 1989: An Olympic Aviation Shorts 330 crashed near Samos Airport, Greece. All 31 passengers and 3 crew members were killed.

Destinations

Further information: Olympic Airlines destinations

OA operates a network of 13 intercontinental destinations, 28 European destinations and 36 domestic destinations.

Fleet

The Olympic Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of July 2006):

Amount	Aircraft	Average Age
4	Airbus A340-300	7.3 years
1	Airbus A300-600	15.3 years
3	Boeing 717-200	6 years
13	Boeing 737-400	14.7 years (Combined with Boeing 737-300)
2	Boeing 737-300	14.7 years (Combinded with Boeing 737-400)
6	ATR 72	14.5 years (Combined with ATR 42)
7	ATR 42	14.5 years (Combined with ATR 72)
4	De Havilland Canada Dash 8	13.2 years

As of July 2006, the average Olympic Airlines fleet age was 13.1 years.

Retired Aircraft

External links

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