Greek carrier Olympic Airlines has effectively ceased to exist from today (September 29), as the airline moves into private ownership under the name Olympic Air.
The loss-making state carrier has been bought by Marfin Investment Group (MIG), and is being relaunched as Olympic Air, with a slimmed-down network and new aircraft.
Olympic Air has launched a new website at olympicair.com, although online bookings are not yet possible. The website states that the new carrier will launch on October 1, with 20 domestic routes, and the following ten international destinations, on which economy and business class services will be available:
London, Paris, Vienna, Brussels, Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, Bucharest, Larnaca, and Sofia
The carrier says it will commence operations with a fleet of 24 aircraft, which will rise to 32 by spring 2010 as it takes delivery of new Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft, as well as new Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 planes.
The airline plans to codeshare with Delta on flights to New York from early October, and is finalising codeshare agreements with Air France (between Greece and France, as well as to Montreal from March 2010), and Etihad (between Greece and Abu Dhabi, South Africa and Australia).
A new frequent flyer programme has also been created – the Travelair Club. Olympic Air says that “in recognition of their loyalty, frequent passengers of the former Olympic Airlines who participated in the Icarus programme will be rewarded by Olympic Air with miles of the newly created Travelair Club”.
For more information visit olympicair.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
