The following article appeared in Reuters today. Sounds a bit like the same old story, but with, presumably, a new name. What will it be now? They've done Olympic Airways and Olympic Airlines. Guess it will be simply Olympic Air ... a good idea, in case they have to reorganize that one. Then they'll be down to plain old 'Olympic.'
I still hope that they consider handling the domestic and international services with separate management teams.
News article follows:
Greece mulls relaunch of Olympic Air -paper
Wednesday 12 October 2005, 3:02am EST
Printer Friendly | Email Article | Reprints | RSS
ATHENS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Greece may relaunch Olympic Airlines as a new company as talks to sell the ailing carrier to investment group Olympic Investors-York capital seem to have stalled, financial daily Naftemporiki reported on Wednesday.
"Well-informed sources cite an agreement with a Greek businessman, whose company will take over management of Olympic, while Greek banks will participate in (the new company's) share capital," the paper said.
Greece is scrambling to find a solution for its flag carrier [OLY.UL] after a European Commission ruling last month required Olympic Airways and its successor Olympic Airlines pay back as much as 540 million euros ($645 million) in illegal state aid.
The paper said the new company would be jointly owned by the government and private investors but the exact stake the government will hold has yet to be finalised.
Greek Transport Minister Michael Liapis said last month the EU Commission's ruling hindered Olympic's privatisation but while the government would spare no effort to sell it, it would also look into alternative solutions for the day after.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.