New Olympic Air gets official launch
Amid much hoopla – provided, literally, by the Cirque du Soleil – the new Olympic Air announced itself to the world in a celebration attended by approximately 8,000 people in the airline’s hangar at Athens airport.
Backed by industrial conglomerate, the Marfin Investment Group, Olympic Air is being led by CEO Antonis Simigdalas, renowned for his work in building Aegean Airlines. It has taken over the role as national carrier from the bankrupt Olympic Airlines, whose aircraft currently line forlornly one of the taxiways at the airport.
Olympic Air has begun life with a fleet of 27 aircraft – seven Airbus A319s, five A320s (with four to come, two in November, one in February and one in March), eight Bombardier Q400s (four owned and four flown on ACMI terms by Flybe, with six new aircraft to arrive from the manufacturer by summer 2010), five Dash 8-100s and two ATR 42s (one on ACMI from Danish Air Transport, an extra from DAT being discussed).
The fourth Q400 from Flybe arrived in Athens on 14 October after a direct ferry flight from Southampton. The UK airline has almost 100 staff based in Athens at present as it assists Olympic with the introduction of the type. The wet-lease arrangement is currently planned to last a year.
Olympic Air took over services from the defunct carrier on 29 September. The slots for these services, two hangars and the Olympic brand were all that the new company acquired from the old airline, Simigdalas reported.
The CEO admitted it had been a wrench to leave Aegean, but noted, “You can’t throw away a brand as strong as Olympic.”
Early load factors have been around 70% with “decent” yields, “though it’s not fully visible yet,” acknowledged Simigdalas. “What’s paramount at present is to operate with efficiency and a high level of service.”
One of the European Union’s stipulations for the privatisation of Olympic to go through was the removal of 35% of the old carrier’s available seat kilometres (ASKs). To do this, as the fleet list suggests, Olympic Air has dropped long-haul services and begun life as a large regional – the airline is a member of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA).
However, Simigdalas and his team have already negotiated partnership arrangements with Air France, KLM, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airlines and Cyprus Airways.
Long-haul may come back at a later date though. “We have some initial plans,” Simigdalas confirmed, “but they are modest – and some way off.”
Bernie Baldwin, editor, Low-Fare & Regional Airlines/LARAnews.net
Athens, Greece
Email this to a friend.