Olympic Air to replace Olympic Airlines from October

Olympic Air announced plans to commence operations effective 01-Oct-2009, officially replacing state-owned Olympic Airlines. The core units of Olympic Airlines, including flight and ground operations and the MRO unit, were sold to the Marfin Investment Group in Mar-2009. The carrier will initially operate 21 domestic and international routes. It will codeshare on services to New York, operated by Delta Air Lines and is currently finalising a codeshare agreement with Air France-KLM, as a first step to gain entry in SkyTeam. The carrier plans to increase its fleet, based around A319/A320s and Bombardier turboprops, to 32 aircraft, investing approximately USD1.1 billion.

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  Air France-KLM is not Europe’s only airline group to report worsening 1Q2012 results. Lufthansa Group, Europe’s largest airline group, has posted a EUR381 million operating loss for the first three months of 2012, compared to a EUR169 million operating loss posted in 1Q2011 and announced it will cut 3500 full-time jobs in administrative departments worldwide over the coming years as part of its SCORE programme. SAS Group also has reported a 1Q2012 net loss of SEK729 million (EUR82 million), doubling its 1Q2011 net deficit of SEK373 million (EUR42 million).