Olympic Airlines

Olympic Airlines (OAL) (Greek: Ολυμπιακές Αερογραμμές, Olympiakés Aerogrammés – OA), formerly named Olympic Airways for at least four decades, is the flag carrier airline of Greece. The airline's head office is located in Athens. The airline operates services to 37 domestic destinations and to 65 destinations world-wide. The airline's main base was at Athens International Airport, with hubs at Thessaloniki International Airport, "Macedonia", Heraklion International Airport, "Nikos Kazantzakis" and Rhodes International Airport, "Diagoras". Olympic Airlines also owned a base at London Heathrow International Airport. By December 2007, the airline employs about 12,600 staff.

History
Icarus, the first predecessor airline to Olympic, was established in 1930. After just a few months Icarus went bankrupt due to financial problems and limited Greek interest in air transport. G.C.A.T./Ε.Ε.Ε.Σ./E.E.E.S. (Greek Company for Air Transport/Ελληνική Εταιρεία Εναέριων Συγκοινωνιών/Ellinikí Etaireía Enaérion Synkoinonión) 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/Technikaí Aeroporikaí Ekmetalléfseis). 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).

Onassis era
In 1951 the poor financial state of the three airlines led to a decision by the Greek state to merge them into a single operator, TAE Greek National Airlines (TAE). The new airline operated a fleet of twin-engine Douglas DC-3 airliners on domestic Greek routes until the last example was disposed of in May 1970. A four-engine Douglas DC-4 was acquired in 1950 and this was operated on a route to London. The new airline faced financial problems so the government closed it down in 1955.

There was no buyers for the airline so the Greek State bought the company back. In July 1956 the Greek State reached an agreement with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis for Onassis to purchase the airline. The company flew under the T.A.E. name until the end of the year and for the first few months of 1957. On 6 April 1957 the company was renamed Olympic Airways (Ολυμπιακή Αεροπορία/Olympiaki Aeroporia).

The new company developed rapidly. To allay the distrust of air transport by Greeks, Onassis developed the "aviation days of '57" scheme, providing short, free flights in a DC-3 to demonstrate the reliability of air travel. Onassis always wanted to be in the cutting-edge of the technology, so in 1959 he signed a deal to buy four de Havilland Comet 4B that in 1960 was Olympic's first jet aircraft, that entered service. Olympic and British European Airways created the first codeshare flights; later the companies expanded their cooperation. When Greek crews had to spend a night in London, British crews would fly the Olympic Comets to BEA destinations, and the same with Greek crews and BEA Comets. On all BEA and OA Comets, there would be a "BEA-OLYMPIC" sign. In 1962 Olympic set a record flying a DH Comet 4B from London to Athens in just two hours and 51 minutes.

In 1965 Olympic ordered Boeing 707-320 jets; they received the first, bearing the name "City of Athens", in 1966. Olympic's first Boeing 707 service was also the inauguration of a non-stop route connecting Athens and New York City (JFK). In 1968 Olympic began serving Africa, with a twice-weekly round-trip linking Athens with Nairobi and Johannesburg. The same year OA received the first of a fleet of Boeing 727-200 jet aircraft. A new Athens-Montreal-Chicago service commenced in 1969. Also in 1969, the airline phased out their Comet 4Bs.

Under Onassis' leadership the airline gained a reputation for lavish style. The cabin crews were attired in Pierre Cardin-designed uniforms and passengers ate with golden cutlery and listened to the stylings of a pianist in the first class cabin.

In 1971 OA purchased new NAMC YS-11 twin-turboprop aircraft to replace the ageing non-pressurized Douglas DC-3 and the Douglas DC-6 pressurised piston-engined airliners still in use on the company's Greek domestic network. In that year they created a subsidiary airline, Olympic Aviation/Ολυμπιακή Αεροπλοϊα, to serve the Greek islands more economically and efficiently. To further this strategy, several examples of the small twin-engined turbo-propellor Short Skyvan utility airliner were obtained for operation on routes serving smaller Greek airports. In 1972 Olympic turned to the important Greece-Australia market, beginning Boeing 707–320 operations between Athens and Sydney twice a week via Bangkok and Singapore.

Olympic then acquired seven Boeing 720-051B aircraft, a medium-range derivative of the Boeing 707, from Northwest Airlines. The airline also entered the wide-body era by purchasing two new Boeing 747-200s. OA even showed interest in the BAC-Aérospatiale Concorde supersonic airliner and, on 5 January 1973, a Concorde landed at Athens' Hellenikon Airport to give a demonstration.

Post-Onassis era
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 the Greek people and a new phase began for Olympic Airways. A few months later, Onassis sold all of the OA shares to the Greek state and he died shortly afterward (in 1975). In 1976, under state management, OA purchased eleven 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 their Australia route, followed by the Canadian one in 1978, when OA also placed orders for four Airbus A300s, plus four options.

In 1984, three more B747-200 aircraft were purchased from Singapore Airlines, and the Canada and Australia routes were reopened. A new Olympic Airways Cargodivision was created by converting the Boeing 707–320 "City of Lindos", but the plans were soon abandoned. In 1986, there were strikes at OA, and financial losses mounted.

The company faced serious financial trouble from the 1980s on, mostly because of management problems. Greek politicians and their families traveled for free or token amounts on the airline. Successive Greek governments also made Olympic carry the press at a 97 percent discount. Olympic AirTours (Ολυμπιακή Τουριστική) was created as a subsidiary of OA, which issued tickets not only for OA, but for other airlines as well. Very soon, Olympic AirTours was renamed Macedonian Airlines and reestablished as a charter flight company.

In 1990 a route to Tokyo via Bangkok was launched but Olympic was soon forced to shut it down, despite very high load factors (95%). Olympic purchased seven Boeing 737-400 aircraft in 1991, 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 programme, as well as all the plans that followed, failed. A few years later, in an attempt to make OA profitable, management was given to a 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 ageing B747-200.

Retired fleet
TBA

myOlympic Holidays
Olympic myHoliday replaced Zeus Air as Olympic Airlines' holiday brand in April 2013 and was renamed into myOlympic Holidays in mid 2015. It operates seasonal charter flights at own risk and in cooperation with tour operators as well as exclusive ad-hoc charter flights. All charter flights are operated by Olympic Airlines aircraft and crew. A Do & Co board service is served on all flights.

Flight destinations Seasonal holiday flights in 2017/18 are offered to 40 destinations in 10 countries.

Flight number range myOlympic Holidays flights cover a dedicated range of flight numbers.