Aww, shoot! NOW I hear about Olympic Airlines problems!
 

Anyone have the latest scoop on what's going on with this ariline? I have tickets from Athens to Santorini in May.

Sallyjane, I have been flying Olympic for may years, and have been closely following the situation.

The European Commission has ruled that Olympic Airlines must repay illegal subsidies to the Greek government, but is unable to do so. Some sort of retructuring is inevitable. The government has been looking for a buyer, so far without success. The situation is dragging on, and probably won't be resolved before summer.

At the moment there is no point in worrying. The last thing anyone wants is for Olympic or its successor to lose profitable routes such as Athens-Santorini. Your flight will almost certainly go as scheduled.

If worse comes to worst, and the flight is cancelled, you will be given an option of being rescheduled on another flight or a full refund. During summer there are also several ferries each day between Piraeus and Rafina, so you have many choices. Whatever happens, your money is safe and you will get to Santorini. :-)

Here is a newspaper article on the subject: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/ne....asp?aid=92985

Thank you. I believe you and I am now relieved.

Sally Jane,

If you have any discomfort about your ticket, you may want to try Aegean Air. They fly from ATH to Santorini as well and the travel agent arranging our May trip feels they are a good alternative to Olympic.

Jeff

Aegean Airlines has a more certain future at the moment, but if you have already bought tickets with Olympic and it would cost money to cancel, you may as well hold on to them.

A similar situation happened to me when HellasJet ceased operations a few years ago. I was offered a choice of a refund or a flight with Olympic at no extra cost - I chose the flight.

Even if you can't take a flight, there are still the ferries. Highspeeds from Piraeus to Santorini take about five hours, a lot longer than the flight. On the other hand, you don't have to show up two hours early, line up at a check-in counter, and wait for your luggage at the end of the trip, so the overall time difference isn't as great as it appears.