Interesting BBC article a few days ago advised that the Greek government has said that the airline now has a more difficult future. There is also speculation that it will be grounded.

To add fuel to the fire, Ryan Air are suing the European Commission for failing to act on more state subsidies being given to Olympic by the Greek government.

Here's the article:

http://tinyurl.com/2nyso7

Joe

Olympic Airlines is absolutely dreadful. I would rather fly Air India.

Thingorjus

Here is another article on the Olympic situation: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/ne....asp?aid=90786.

This will be the second time the airline has been reorganized in recent years.

Olympic Airlines has always had two major problems: 1) the management and 2) the staff. It is a national disgrace and an international joke. It ought to be abandoned, and if Greece in the future starts another national airline, the law establishing it ought to prohibit from working for it any person who has ever been employed in any capacity at any time by Olympic.

Be that as it may, Olympic Airlines (or its successor) is vital to Greece, providing links to many, many more islands than its rival.

Aegean is able to cherry pick its routes, flying only the most profitable ones, those with international sized airports. Their international routes are only to short haul destinations, eg Italy and Germany. Thus, it is able to get by with only three basic types of aircraft, Boeing 737, Airbus A320, and Avro RJ 100.

By contrast, Olympic serves even the smallest of domestic airports as well as long haul destinations. To do so, it needs to maintain a a huge range of aircraft, from Boeing 747s to Dash 8s (32 pax) that can land on 2300 ft runways such as at Paros. Needless to say, that is a complex undertaking.

As a nationalized airline it serves too many masters. Flight crews, not having a secure future, have become demoralized. Let's wish a future slimmed down Olmypic Airlines every success. Greece needs it.

I cannot imagine Olympic not being here. Peoples forget when they were the only airline and, for me, as a child to an adult I have not known any other to serve us here until the last few years.

It must be changed yes. I hope it does not disapear.

Olympic staff are having a difficult time now but they are not bad people. They have much criticim but they do a difficult job with a management I think do not care.

thanos

Mis-managed and mal-managaed airlines (or any corporations) should cease to exist. Why can't it disappear? Swissair and Sabena disappeared, alright. Other airlines will come in to fill the void when there's a demand for the service.

And it's not like you can fly longhauls from ATH. Both DL and CO fly to ATH, and next summer, CO actually will use a larger plane than last year.

At least those people in charge of the equally-troubled Alitalia knows better to have it join a global alliance and to sell itself. Those in Athens don't even realize that's necessary.

I am sorry rkkwan but I do not believe other new airlines will come in and serve the large amount of islands Olympic do.

Swissair and Sabena did not operate the type of local network we must rely on.

If there are new airlines, and I cannot think from where, arrive here they will choose certain islands only and not fly the large remeinder of others that Olympic already fly to. We must think of local peoples needs also, not tourists.

I have friends here who work for Olympic and I do not want them to lose their jobs.

For there sake and islanders in remoter parts of Greece I hope Olympic does not disappear but works hard instead on it's local network.

I think perhaps you have many choices of airline. We do not. If some of those fail then others can help passengers. That does not and will not happen here.

thanos

I too hope Olympic doesn't disappear and agree with what Heimdall and Thanos say.

We tend to forget that those services are for islanders and not just for tourists.

No doubt at all Heimdall that Aegean will cherry pick. They are already doing that.

I also cannot think of any other airline that will involve themselves with providing services to the smaller remote islands.

I've used Olympic 20 times or so and hopefully will be able to continue to do so.

bill

If there are domestic routes that the Greeks believe is essential, and no private companies will run it, that's fine.

Discontinue the other routes, and the go to Brussels and ask for permission to provide permanent subsidies on these particular routes.

>>Discontinue the other routes, and the[n] go to Brussels and ask for permission to provide permanent subsidies on these particular routes.<<

Rkkwan, if you read the Kathimerini link in my first post, you will see that's pretty much what the airline seems to be planning - to trim down its timetable and concentrate on domestic routes.

Good, it does seem like the Greek government is saying "enough is enough" and will shut Olympic down and relaunch it. Maybe it can retain its name, maybe not. But it'll be a new company.

Here's a slightly longer article:

news.airwise.com/story/view/1197075761.html

The Airwise article referenced above includes the telling statement:

"Under pressure from unions and a public that wants to see the airline founded by shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis keep flying, consecutive governments have tried and failed over the years to find a buyer for the loss-making carrier."

This demonstrates very clearly why Olympic is such a disgraceful failure: the unions are interested in it as a cash cow, the voters are interested in it for their own convenience, and the politicians are interested in it as something they can use as a way to get votes from the public and the unions. It never seems to occur to anyone involved to be interested in a Greek national airline because it could be developed into a major and sucessful national and international business.

ttt

Not much news on the Olympic Airlines situation recently. Here is a commentary from Kathemerini in today's edition: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/ne....asp?aid=93358